If you thought Luka Dončić getting traded in the middle of the night was crazy timing, how about Kevin Durant shipped to the Houston Rockets on the day of Game 7 of the NBA Finals! That’s right, people, the Durant deal that everyone has been waiting on finally happened on Sunday morning. The details are below.

Phoenix gets: Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this week’s draft and five second-round picks

Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this week’s draft and five second-round picks Houston gets: A 15-time All-Star and a first-class ticket into contention!

It felt like we were always moving in the direction of Durant to Houston. Now that it’s done, let’s grade the trade.

Houston Rockets: A

Houston nailed this. For all the talk of Phoenix lacking leverage here, we are still talking about Kevin Durant. The Suns were always going to get a good draft pick and some pretty good players in return for an All-NBA guy who, even at 36 years old, can still theoretically swing the proverbial contention needle.

So Houston loses Jalen Green, whom it promptly replaces with Reed Sheppard. It loses the No. 10 pick in this upcoming draft, but remember, it was too deep this past season for the aforementioned Sheppard, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft, to even be a consistent rotation player, so where were the minutes going to come from for another lottery pick?

Plus, the Rockets still own Phoenix’s first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, meaning if the Suns find themselves backed far enough against the wall to trade Devin Booker and go in the tank, the Rockets, with a contending team already in place, will be in position to steal a couple more potential lottery picks down the line.

So if Sheppard replaces Green, who was probably always going to get traded one way or another, and the 10th pick wasn’t going to play very much anyway, then we’re down to Dillon Brooks, who gets replaced by … Kevin Durant.

Yeah, the Rockets came out smelling like a five-star French bakery on this one. Houston’s defense was a super elite unit last season. Brooks was a part of that, but Durant adds a lot more length, and more important, Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr. and Fred VanVleet remain, so the defense isn’t going anywhere — unless it gets even better, which is a possibility with Durant filling cracks and adding roving rim protection around all the pressure Houston will be applying with those aforementioned names.

Meanwhile, the offense that was the only thing holding this team back gets Durant to put alongside a second All-Star in Alperen Şengün. You can talk all you want about how Durant is maybe not quite the same player heading into his 19th season, but listen, the man was the league’s seventh-best scorer last season at better than 26 points per game with a better true shooting percentage than Stephen Curry. He’s still maybe the best mid-range scorer in the world and he shot 43% from 3 last season.

Durant also played in 62 and 75 games over the last two seasons, respectively, so if you’re playing the diminishing durability card, you’re in trouble. Sure, at this stage of anyone’s career injuries are always right around the corner, but you can only go on the information at hand and, save for a few major injuries, Durant has long been a reliable nightly player.

And now he has a real chance to compete for one more title. With him on board, this Rockets team is ready. No question about it. It doesn’t mean they’ll be the favorite or that they won’t need some thing to go their way, but that’s true of every team in what has become the deepest and most equitable competitive landscape in history.

Houston is taking its shot with an elite coach, elite defense and now an elite superstar scorer, and it has done so without compromising really any of its core future plans or assets. This deal always made the most sense. This was the time to strike for the Rockets, who are officially in play for a ring.

Phoenix Suns: C

It’s true, the Suns lacked leverage here. Everyone knew they had to trade Durant and everyone knew the places Durant wanted to go. Houston was one of them, so the Rockets, knowing Durant will likely be willing to sign up for more than just next season, were willing to part with a pretty good package for the Suns under the circumstances. They’re still eating a buffet portion of crow after their all-in move on Durant went bust, but they didn’t come up totally empty.

The No. 10 pick in this year’s draft originally belonged the Suns, so in getting that back they at least didn’t drop into the lottery for nothing. You can check out our CBS Sports mock drafts, but suffice it to say, whoever Phoenix selects at this spot is going to have a chance to contribute right away.

Brooks is a nice fit here, too. He brings defense and energy, obviously, and he’s not a guy who’s going to control possessions offensively, meaning the team is back in Booker’s hands. This also potentially elevates Bradley Beal, who may get to tick up in his aggression considerably. Jalen Green is still going to eat up a lot of usage, but he’s not Kevin Durant in terms of demanding possessions. Beal will benefit. And maybe Green gets flipped elsewhere, which is an interesting possibility even if the Suns are smartly putting it out there that they don’t intend to trade Green; you don’t have to tell the Suns about the importance of establishing some semblance of market leverage.

For the moment, let’s assume Green stays for a while, if only for an opportunity to play well for the Suns for long enough to increase his trade value. There have been reports of the Suns sniffing around Green’s market for a while, but nothing ever materialized. This is probably because teams aren’t sure about Green’s three-year, $106 million contract that is just beginning this season (that’s another win for the Rockets, getting off this deal).

But understand, there’s a reasonable world in which that contract becomes plenty palatable, if not an outright bargain, if Green can tap into more consistency, because when he’s on he’s an absolute superstar scorer and an increasingly viable defensive player.

If the Suns are eventually forced to move on from Booker, they have the hope of Green stepping forward. If he plays well and they can move him at the trade deadline or next summer, they get even more return on Durant.

But for now, if Green stays, the Suns have added, if nothing else, some depth (a major issue last season as a top-heavy roster) in the form of two major rotational players and perhaps a third depending on how quickly the No. 10 pick can get up to NBA speed. That’s something.

Because remember, the Suns still have to try to be good. They have no incentive to tank for a better draft pick because they don’t own any of their draft picks for the next six years. Here’s where they’re all heading:

2026: Swap with either Washington or Orlando

2027: Houston

2028: Washington

2029: Houston

2030: Washington

2031: Utah

This is what Durant and Beal cost, and simply by virtue of these all-in moves going bust, the Suns cannot score anything more than an average grade.

But given the position they were in, they did fine. To me, Green becomes the swing player in this trade. If he gets flipped for another decent return or taps into his full upside, at which point the Suns would have him on a bargain contract, Phoenix could look a lot better down the road than it does right now. But that remains to be seen.