Kevin Durant is on the move, concluding weeks of speculation about where the superstar forward would land.

The Phoenix Suns traded Durant to the Houston Rockets, in exchange for Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks. Phoenix also received the No. 10 pick in the 2025 draft and five second-round picks as part of the trade.

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The deal will not officially go through until July 6, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, due to a restriction in Green’s rookie extension, which he signed last October. The second-round picks in the trade will stretch to 2032, per NBA insider Jake Fischer.

Earlier this month, Durant had reportedly narrowed his preferred destinations to three places, including Houston. Per ESPN’s Shams Charania, Phoenix was deep in discussions with the two finalists — the Rockets and Miami Heat — throughout the weekend before agreeing to a deal with Houston on Sunday morning.

Durant found out about the trade’s completion while appearing at Fanatics Fest in New York.

“Being part of the Houston Rockets, I’m looking forward to it,” Durant said. “It’s a crazy, crazy couple weeks, but I’m glad it’s over with.”

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Durant said the Suns had asked him where he preferred to be traded. “I gave them some of my destinations, and here we are,” Durant said.

Durant will joining an emerging Rockets team that is anchored by rising stars Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün, as starters Green and Brooks are sent to Phoenix.

The trade ends a two plus-season run with the Suns after Durant joined Phoenix from the Brooklyn Nets via a blockbuster deal prior to the 2023 NBA trade deadline. The Suns acquired Durant in exchange for a package that sent Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and four first-round picks to Brooklyn.

The intent in Phoenix was to pair Durant alongside Devin Booker in hopes of competing in the stacked Western Conference for an NBA title. They never reached contention as teammates.

Suns failed to build a competitor around Durant, Booker

Durant recovered from a knee injury in time for the 2023 playoffs after landing in Phoenix and helped the Suns advance to the second round. The Suns beat the Clippers before losing to the eventual NBA champion Nuggets. That turned out to be the peak of the Durant era in Phoenix.

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Durant played 75 games the following season in his first full campaign with the Suns. Phoenix finished 49-33 in 2023-24 and earned the No. 6 seed in the West. The Suns were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Timberwolves.

Failed season a prelude to Durant deal

This past season was a failure in Phoenix that led to the dismissal of head coach Mike Budenholzer in April after one season. A top-heavy Suns roster was not competitive in the West and missed the playoffs after a 36-46 campaign that was good for 11th place in the conference.

It was reported after Budenholzer’s dismissal that the Suns would work with Durant to find him a new team. Now he has one.

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Durant isn’t the player he was in his MVP prime. But he remains an All-Star-level force at 36 years old and reportedly drew interest from multiple teams seeking to contend for a championship, including the Timberwolves, Rockets and Heat.

Durant made his 15th career All-Star team in 2024-25 and finished the season with averages of 26.6 points, 6 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. He shot 52.7% from the field and 43% from 3 and remains one of basketball’s most lethal and efficient scorers.

The trade represents the latest seismic shake-up in the Western Conference, following the Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis trade, the deal that sent De’Aaron Fox to the Spurs and another that sent Jimmy Butler to the Warriors during the season.

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Getty Images Sport NBA superstar Kevin Durant traded to Houston Rockets from Phoenix Suns in blockbuster deal Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant is being traded to the Houston Rockets, according to ESPN reports. Article continues below Article continues below Article continues below Suns trade NBA star Kevin Durant to the Rockets

Get Green, Brooks, the No. 10 overall pick in 2025 draft & 5 second-round picks in mega trade

With only one season left on his current deal, the 36-year-old will make $54.7m this season Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱 Want to go deeper? Ask Beta Ask

The Phoenix Suns are trading Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft and five second-round picks. ESPN’s Shams Charania was first to report.

As a final wrinkle, the deal can only become official on July 6. This is due to a poison pill restriction in Green’s rookie extension.

Houston has long been connected with a Durant trade but stood firm in not wanting to give up its best young assets. Amen Thompson was never on the table but it’s an organizational win that Jabari Smith also remains a Rocket.

Only Houston and the Miami Heat were in discussions to acquire the two-time Finals MVP over the weekend.

For Phoenix, the organization can now move on from an underwhelming Durant era. It brought about just one playoff series victory in three years, with the Suns missing both the playoffs and Play-In Tournament entirely this season.

Durant will now be expected to elevate the second seed in the West and a first-round playoff exit to legitimate title contender. How long the window is comes down to extension talks. He can sign a two-year extension worth $122 million.

The 15-time All-Star averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 blocks in 62 games this past season. He shot 52.7 percent from the field, including 43 percent from three and made 83.9 percent at the free-throw line.

Durant Reacts To Trade Live

KD finds out ON STAGE that he just got traded to Houston 😳 (🎥 @AryePulliNFL) pic.twitter.com/MsTQrvXNie — Underdog (@Underdog) June 22, 2025

Funnily enough, Durant was actually at an event for his media network, Boardroom. He was in the midst of a Q&A session with media personality Taylor Rooks when fans in attendance exploded after seeing the trade notification on their phones.

Durant was forced to give some type of reaction and said, “We will see, man, we will see what happens. We gon’ see.” He had a huge smile on his face while doing so.

Houston’s biggest weakness is scoring and there will hardly be a better remedy than one of the game’s all-time leading scorers.

The Kevin Durant trade saga has come to a halt Sunday with yet another star staying put in the Western Conference. The Phoenix Suns are trading Durant to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and five second-round picks according to Shams Charania of ESPN.com. The second round draft picks will include the No. 59 pick this year, two picks in 2026, a Celtics pick in 2030 and Houston’s pick in 2032, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7.

The trade will not become official until next season (July 6) due to a poison pill provision in Green’s rookie extension. Green is signed for the next three years with his extension starting with a $33 million salary. Durant ($54.1 million) is entering the final year of his contract but is expected to sign a new deal with Houston once the deal becomes official, per ESPN.

With one of the biggest dominoes of the NBA offseason now on the move, what does the Durant trade mean for the Celtics as their offseason gets going. Let’s take a look at the potential impact of the move from a short and long-term perspective.

Durant stays out of East

The other finalist in the Durant trade derby was reportedly the Miami Heat, but they were unwilling to match the Suns’ asking price to land an aging star in Durant. Instead, the long-time All-Star heads to an emerging Rockets team to play under former Celtics coach Ime Udoka. This is probably close to a best-case scenario from a Celtics perspective, since the Rockets aren’t a juggernaut even with Durant aboard and have a ton of tough competition throughout the Western Conference. When Jayson Tatum is back healthy in 2026-27 for the Celtics, there won’t be another star waiting for him in the East in Durant to get through, which will help keep the conference wide open for the foreseeable future.

A couple potential trade landing routes close

Zach Lowe of ESPN.com floated the possibility of Jrue Holiday getting involved in a three-team Durant trade last week (with Durant heading to a third team, not Boston). For now, this Durant swap is just including the Rockets and Suns, although the door is open for other teams to get involved hypothetically before it becomes official next month. For now, it does not look like the Rockets will be a suitor for Jrue Holiday (under the assumption Fred VanVleet is returning on a new deal). Meanwhile, Porzingis could be a player to watch potentially for Phoenix since they still need some help in the frontcourt after only landing Brooks and Green in this deal. They are still a second apron team currently however, so no deal is possible there with Boston until they dump some other salary and get under the second apron themselves. That could happen as soon as this week at the NBA Draft.

Business is about to pick up

With no real buzz of late about Giannis Antetokounmpo being on the trade market, Durant is a big domino many teams were waiting to watch fall this offseason. With the 36-year-old now on the move, plenty of secondary business will now start taking place around the league leading into the draft, since potential Durant suitors no longer will be bidding on him. How much this helps the Celtics remains to be seen, but they should have a better sense of what suitors there are for select players (Porzingis, Holiday, Hauser) at certain price points with the Durant variable out of the mix. Ultimately, the Celtics will start to make some painful moves to trim salary from their roster this week, and the Durant trade should help to get things moving along.