Rockets & Suns Kevin Durant Trade Expands To A Massive 7-Team Deal

A series of moves dating back to the Houston Rockets’ trade for Kevin Durant before the draft ultimately became the first seven-team trade in NBA history, a massive, complex transaction that occurred when the league’s annual moratorium on business officially concluded on Sunday.

The seven-team trade involved the Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns. Six players were involved in the trade, including Durant, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Clint Capela, David Roddy and Daeqwon Plowden. The Rockets traded their No. 10 overall pick to the Suns, who used it to draft center Khaman Maluach. The Rockets traded 12 second-round picks in the historic deal while also making a second-round pick swap with the Hawks and sending them cash considerations.

The main component of the deal is the trade that saw Durant go from Phoenix to Houston on June 22. The future Hall of Famer landed with last season’s second overall seed in the Western Conference in exchange for Green, Brooks, the 10th pick and five second-round picks.

The Durant deal wasn’t eligible to be completed until Sunday, when the moratorium ended and deals were allowed to be consummated in the NBA’s 2025-26 league year, due to satisfying salary cap requirements. That allowed the Suns to acquire those second-round picks from the Rockets and maneuver in the draft, making a series of trades that ultimately spread them to a variety of teams.

Eventually, the Suns wound up with the first pick of the second round (31st overall), which they used to select Saint Joseph’s forward Rasheer Fleming, as well as the 41st pick, which they used to take guard Koby Brea. Several other players wound up being drafted from picks involved in this deal last month, including the Lakers’ Adou Thiero (36th pick), the Timberwolves’ Rocco Zikarsky (45th) and the Warriors’ Alex Toohey (52nd).

The span between the time the deal was agreed upon and the time it was made official allowed the Rockets to add to it by bringing back Capela. The 31-year-old center was drafted by the Rockets in 2014 and spent his first six seasons there before playing his past five with the Hawks. The move provides the Rockets with additional center depth behind Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams.

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Article by James Van Wickler