“I thought it was an awesome trade for Houston,” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons says of this week’s Kevin Durant trade. “I just loved it for them.”
The early reviews of the Kevin Durant trade have been extremely positive for the Houston Rockets, and that includes podcast analysis from longtime NBA media personalities Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo.
“I thought it was an awesome trade for Houston,” Simmons said in Monday’s podcast from The Ringer. “I just loved it for them. They didn’t give up Jabari Smith Jr. in the trade. That’s a (expletive) miracle.”
Russillo then tied in the Durant deal with others made by Rockets general manager Rafael Stone in recent years.
“I loved it,” he said. “Stone is on an absolute heater. He’s been incredible.”
In recent weeks, Simmons had projected the Phoenix Suns to receive significantly more from the Rockets in a hypothetical Durant-to-Houston trade.
The complete Durant trade segment with Simmons and Russillo can be viewed below. As for Stone, his Rockets have improved from 22-60 two years ago (and last place among 15 Western Conference teams) to 52-30 and No. 2 in the West during this past season — and now they’re adding an All-Star forward and future Hall of Famer to that foundation. It’s hard to argue with the results and speed of this drastic turnaround in Houston.
One of Stone’s only moves that some had questioned during those two years was the contract extension handed out to Green last October. But without that, the financial framework of this week’s Durant deal wouldn’t have been possible. So, that move ended up aging well, too.
In the end, the Rockets now have an elite scorer in Durant and a veteran floor general in Fred VanVleet to guide a young and improving roster that features promising prospects such as Smith, Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, Tari Eason, Cam Whitmore, and Reed Sheppard.
It’s a good place to be.