The Houston Rockets continue to learn the Phoenix Suns a lesson they should never have learned: it’s great to negotiate about and with Kevin Durant.
Talk about a recent episode of The Hope Collective podcastESPN’s Tim Macmahon said he heard that Houston “is not going all-in with an extension”, and instead negotiates with the double champion. Some paint this as a laughable, but disturbing, development for the rockets. In reality it is actually brilliant.
Durant is eligible to sign an extension of two years worth a maximum of $ 118.7 million, or a two -year deal in January that pays him up to $ 120.5 million. By signing him for a little less, Houston can keep more of his core together while the payroll continues to climb.
What is even more important, this is an extension of how the rockets have taken over from the Suns. They actually negotiated. And in the end they were given the deal. Phoenix never did that.
The suns could not really negotiate when they traded for durant
Suns -owner Mat Ishbia eventually gave the Brooklyn Nets Almost everything and the sink Back in February 2023. Although many understood the move in real time, even optimists recognized the paid price-mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four unprotected first round picks goods exorbitant.
Remember that Phoenix was one of the two teams on the list of Durant preferred destinations last summer. Brooklyn may have played hard ball, but just like Houston in commercial conversations this season, the Suns had all leverage. The difference is that the rockets could actually use theirs and kd for Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, the no. 10 Pick (Khaman Maluach), and extra second round equity and more than reason-containing opportunity costs when you consider the shaky value of Green’s contract.
Certainly, durant is now older than he was when Phoenix exchanged for him. The price would always come down. But that does not apologize for the lack of negotiation of the Suns in 2023. The transaction -led transaction was impulsive and it started to dig a gap that Phoenix might not be able to climb quickly.
See durant extend for less than the maximum would prick for Phoenix
If the rockets succeed in expanding durant for considerably less than its maximum salary, this will only add insult to the laundry list of the Suns.
The concept choices are of course good for a lion’s share of pain. In a ranking of 63 traded first round Picks with the most valuable at the moment CBS Sports’ Sam QuinnAll three of the remaining first Rounders who have to pay the Suns to fulfill the trade in the top five. That is nothing, if not a brutal memory of how sewn this franchise has become.
Moreover, Phoenix sees that Houston is still winning a durant-oriented negotiations that it has never done, and for which it still pays the price.
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