How could the Kevin Durant trade to Rockets impact the Celtics?
The Rockets landed Durant in a trade that includes two veteran guards and six draft picks.
One of the first major dominoes of the NBA offseason fell on Sunday.
Kevin Durant has reportedly been traded from the Suns to the Rockets, with Phoenix acquiring guards Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks from Houston as part of the deal. The Rockets will also get the 10th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and five second-round picks as part of the trade.
The Celtics were never a part of this version of the Durant sweepstakes after being rumored to be a potential suitor for him in previous years. However, Sunday’s trade will likely have a major ripple effect around the NBA, with it being possible that Boston is impacted in some form.
So, let’s take a look at how Sunday’s trade might impact the Celtics this offseason and beyond.
How the Rockets landing Kevin Durant affects the Celtics
With Houston getting Durant, one of the game’s top players will remain in the Western Conference, which is welcome news for Boston. Thirteen of the 20 players named to an All-NBA team over the last two seasons are on a Western Conference team, so the Celtics will still have fewer star power to deal with in the East as Jayson Tatum rehabs from his Achilles tear.
More importantly, the trade to the Rockets means that one of the Celtics’ top rivals and a fellow Eastern Conference playoff contender won’t land him. The Heat were reportedly one of Durant’s three preferred destinations and were rumored to be one of the favorites to land him.
If Miami had landed Durant, it might have been able to make up at least some of the ground between it and Boston in the East standings. While the Celtics had 24 more wins than the Heat last season, Tatum’s injury certainly makes them vulnerable to being passed up in the Eastern Conference. Durant’s elite scoring (26.6 points per game) on great efficiency (52.7 field goal percentage, 43 percent 3-point percentage) would’ve certainly helped a Miami offense that was anemic following the Jimmy Butler trade.
Now, the Heat will have to go looking elsewhere to try and land an impact player who could help them climb the East standings. Considering their lack of any great assets, though, it’ll probably be tough for them to land a player of Durant’s caliber.
How the fallout of the Kevin Durant trade could impact the Celtics
Now that they’ve traded Durant, the Suns will look to retool the rest of their pricey roster after falling well short of expectations for the second straight year. Prior to Sunday’s trade, they were linked to a pair of Celtics players who are reportedly on the trade block.
The Ringer’s Zach Lowe mentioned on a recent episode of his podcast that there had been discussions around the league in which Celtics guard Jrue Holiday could be involved in a possible three-team trade with Durant. Of course, that didn’t happen. However, Lowe’s comment suggests that the Suns could be a landing spot for Holiday.
In addition, Phoenix has done “some background work” on Kristaps Porzingis, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer.
With Durant’s monster salary off the books, it could be more feasible for the Suns to land either of those players in a deal with the Celtics. However, both teams are currently above the second luxury tax apron, making it essentially impossible to for a two-team trade to happen between the two clubs.
The two teams could negotiate a three-team deal, though. If the Celtics opted to go down that route with the Suns in a potential move involving Holiday or Porzingis, wings Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, and Cody Martin could be of interest to Boston from a salary and positional need standpoint.
Beyond the Suns, it could stand to reason that the teams that missed out on Durant could be interested in Holiday or Porzingis, too. The Heat were in on Holiday before the Celtics landed him in 2023. The Spurs could use some veteran leadership as they look to make a playoff push next season. The Timberwolves might need some frontcourt help with Julius Randle and Naz Reid potentially becoming free agents this offseason.
Whether any of those teams make a push for Holiday, Porzingis, or anyone else on the Celtics remains to be seen, but the Durant trade has gotten the ball rolling on the offseason. And with Game 7 of the NBA Finals taking place later on Sunday, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before the Celtics start to make moves in a pivotal offseason.
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