On Sunday the most highly anticipated offseason trades took place as Phoenix Suns<\/a> forward and former MVP Kevin Durant<\/a> was traded to the Houston Rockets<\/a> for Jalen Green<\/a> and Dillon Brooks<\/a> along with draft picks.<\/p>\n While we wait for more trades to hit, catch up on the latest trade grades from ESPN’s Kevin Pelton.<\/p>\n Houston Rockets<\/a> get:<\/p>\n F Kevin Durant<\/a><\/p>\n Phoenix Suns<\/a> get:<\/p>\n Although Durant is no longer as singular a scorer as in his prime, when he posted a true shooting percentage (TS%) at least 15% better than league average nine times according to Basketball-Reference, he’s still as good as just about anyone creating his own offense. Among players with a usage rate of 28% or higher in at least 500 minutes last season, only Denver Nuggets<\/a> three-time MVP big man Nikola Jokic<\/a> surpassed Durant’s .642 TS%.<\/p>\n The contrast with Green especially favors Durant. Also a No. 2 pick, Green had Houston’s highest usage rate last season with a below-average .544 TS%. (All-Star center Alperen Sengun<\/a>, who had the team’s second-highest usage, wasn’t any better at .545 but makes more plays for others and has scored more efficiently in the past. Green’s TS% was a career high.)<\/p>\n All the Rockets’ young stars faced a tough adjustment to the playoffs, but none more so than Green, who averaged 13.3 PPG on 37% shooting. His 38-point Game 2 was the only time Green surpassed 12 points or shot better than 40% in the series. Essentially, Golden State condensed all the fears about Green’s weaknesses as a leading scorer into one, salient seven-game sample.<\/p>\n The bigger loss for Houston in the short term will surely be Brooks, whose arrival was key to the Rockets’ rapid evolution from 60-plus losses in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 to 52 wins last season. Along with VanVleet and coach Ime Udoka, Brooks helped transform Houston’s defensive culture. And as much as the Rockets utilized depth to finish atop a crowded pack of West contenders during the regular season, they’re suddenly thin on the perimeter.<\/p>\n This Durant trade is surely the beginning of a roster makeover rather than the completion of it. Phoenix got back a pair of wings, exacerbating the imbalance of a roster whose five highest-paid players (Bradley Beal<\/a>, Devin Booker<\/a>, Green, Brooks and Grayson Allen<\/a>) could all be called natural shooting guards.<\/p>\n Pending those future moves, this Durant trade seems pragmatic for the Suns, who never stood a chance of recouping the value they gave up to get him from the Nets at the 2023 trade deadline. Durant is more than two years older now and a year away from free agency, meaning Phoenix had far less control of negotiations. And after the team’s relationship with Durant frayed when the Suns discussed trading him in February, bringing him back wasn’t a realistic threat.<\/p>\n The worst-case scenario for Phoenix was trading Durant for veterans who fit better alongside Beal and Booker in a misguided attempt to win now. Again, let’s not rule out that happening down the line, but for now the Suns got what could be the best 2025 draft pick to change hands and the 23-year-old Green.<\/p>\n Brooks would immediately become the Suns’ best perimeter defender, and it’s amusing to see him finally land in Phoenix six-plus years after the miscommunication over which “Brooks” the Suns were getting in a deal involving Trevor Ariza, long since retired. If Phoenix is going to cut payroll to avoid exceeding the second apron and having another first-round pick frozen from trades, however, Brooks is a likely candidate given his value throughout the league.<\/p>\n View the full trade grades<\/a><\/p>\n Orlando Magic<\/a> get:<\/p>\n G Desmond Bane<\/p>\n Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> get:<\/p>\n Orlando:C+<\/p>\n In many ways, this unexpected beginning to the NBA trade season is the spiritual descendent of the New York Knicks<\/a> giving up five first-round picks and a swap for Mikal Bridges<\/a> on the eve of last year’s draft. As in that case, it’s a massive amount of pick value to give up for a player who has never been an All-Star and might never get there.<\/p>\n In that context, this trade makes the Bridges swap a fascinating Rorschach test. From the outside perspective, I’d view it as an overpay a year later. Bridges shook off a perplexing early shooting slump to provide the secondary offensive contributions the Knicks expected but wasn’t a defensive difference-maker.<\/p>\n New York’s uncertainty about whether the core they’d built with the subsequent Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> trade is good enough to win the title undoubtedly played into the decision to fire coach Tom Thibodeau<\/a>. Yet to a team like the Magic, the Knicks getting back to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in a quarter-century might have looked like a huge win.<\/p>\n It hasn’t been that long for Orlando, which is 15 years removed from its latest conference finals appearance and lost in the NBA Finals the year before that. The Magic’s last playoff series victory was in 2010 before they lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, a drought that now spans multiple rebuilds. In the wake of a disappointing season that ended with a five-game first-round loss to the Celtics, Orlando is surely eager to change that.<\/p>\n The Magic were also undoubtedly influenced by the sudden power vacuum atop the East. Although the Indiana Pacers<\/a> have impressed in the NBA Finals and might yet win the championship, they don’t inspire the fear in other East contenders that a full-strength Boston team might have before Jayson Tatum<\/a>‘s Achilles injury. With the second-round exit by the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> leaving questions about their playoff viability, there’s an opening for an unexpected East winner again next year.<\/p>\n The question then becomes whether Bane is good enough to get Orlando into that mix. He checks a lot of boxes for the Magic. Bane, who turns 27 next week, fits the timetable of Orlando’s core of Paolo Banchero<\/a> (22), Jalen Suggs<\/a> (24) and Franz Wagner<\/a> (23) better than most players of his ability the Magic could have realistically acquired.<\/p>\n Bane’s shooting should be a godsend for the Magic, who shot a league-low 32% from 3-point range last season and somehow got worse in the playoffs. It was borderline sorcery that Orlando was remotely competitive with the Celtics while making 26% from 3. Bane’s 2.4 3-pointers per game this season are more than any Magic player has made since 2019-20, just before the team’s last teardown. They’re also the fewest he has averaged since his rookie season.<\/p>\n Beyond that, Bane’s development as a secondary pick-and-roll playmaker fits well alongside Banchero, Suggs and Wagner, all of whom are dangerous with the ball but aren’t full-time ball handlers. Benefiting in part from Memphis’ superior spacing, Bane averaged more points per direct chance out of ball screens (.988) than any Orlando player who ran at least 250 last season, per GeniusIQ tracking. Wagner was the only high-volume Magic player to surpass 0.92 points per chance as a ball handler.<\/p>\n Before the rest of the offseason plays out, I’d probably have Orlando fourth in my preliminary East rankings for 2025-26, behind Cleveland, Indiana and New York, but ahead of Boston based on the likelihood of the Celtics shedding a core player for financial purposes.<\/p>\n A deep playoff run by the Magic will be contingent on Suggs staying healthy after missing all but one game after Jan. 3 due to a cartilage injury that required season-ending surgery. It will probably also require development from Banchero and Wagner, with Banchero needing to show stronger efficiency with more help on offense and Wagner needing to get his 3-point shooting back near league average to be a viable floor spacer.<\/p>\n Internal improvement is critical to Orlando’s postseason upside because this will likely be the team’s last big swing via trade. The Magic are already looking at potentially paying the luxury tax in 2025-26, and will in fact need to decline at least one of their team options on four players (Gary Harris<\/a>, Caleb Houstan<\/a>, Cory Joseph<\/a> and Moritz Wagner<\/a>) to complete this trade without running afoul of a hard cap triggered by aggregating players.<\/p>\n The Orlando salary crunch will get worse in 2026-27, when Banchero begins his next contract. Having made the All-Star team at age 21, the former No. 1 pick is sure to get a max extension that could increase to 30% of the cap if he earns All-NBA honors next season. Either way, that will give the Magic four players making at least $32.4 million in 2026-27, forcing difficult choices.<\/p>\n Well down the road, Orlando could benefit financially from the combination of the salary cap rising the maximum possible 10% annually as the NBA’s new national TV deals are phased in. The Magic’s stars have smaller year-to-year raises and Suggs’ extension begins at its maximum point before descending. That will be especially important if Orlando hits the repeater tax by 2028-29, the last year of Bane’s contract.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the finances are the biggest reason to be skeptical of the Magic giving up nearly all the first-round picks they could trade. (Orlando did retain this year’s No. 25 pick, which came from the Denver Nuggets<\/a> to complete the trade sending Aaron Gordon<\/a> to Denver.) The Knicks gave up five first-rounders for Bridges in part because he was on a bargain contract, making a combined $48.2 million this season and next. That trade might also have factored into Jalen Brunson<\/a>‘s willingness to sign a below-market extension last summer.<\/p>\n Bane’s contract, which averages $40.8 million over the next four seasons with an additional $1.35 million average bonus for winning a championship (per ESPN’s Bobby Marks) is certainly reasonable but not a notable value. Orlando, already paying its other stars appropriately, is betting on fit and internal development to win big and justify this move.<\/p>\n Memphis:B<\/p>\n The Bridges analogy doesn’t hold on the other side of this trade. Whereas the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> were clearly motivated to move Bridges at the peak of his value and rebuild after missing the playoffs, what comes next is harder to tell for Memphis.<\/p>\n It’s hard to believe just three months ago, the Grizzlies were tied for second in the West with Taylor Jenkins as their coach. A 2-8 skid later, Memphis had replaced Jenkins with Tuomas Iisalo en route to getting swept in the first round as the No. 8 seed. Now, the Grizzlies have broken up the core of Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr<\/a>. and Ja Morant<\/a> that won 50-plus games in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 and Memphis’ only playoff series since 2015.<\/p>\n Bane obviously wasn’t the issue with that group, which hasn’t really been the same since Morant’s suspensions for conduct detrimental to the league<\/a> relating to his use and display of guns. Even last year’s run was more about the Grizzlies’ depth than their star power. Jackson was Memphis’ only All-Star, and no Grizzlies player has made an All-NBA team since Morant in 2021-22.<\/p>\n If Memphis was convinced this group was no longer good enough, resetting around Jackson with three extra first-round picks plus one to replace this year’s first-rounder (sent to the Washington Wizards<\/a> at the deadline to shed Marcus Smart<\/a>‘s salary) makes some sense. But trading Bane only deepens the Grizzlies’ need for top-end talent.<\/p>\n In the short term, Memphis should be even deeper after this trade. Although Caldwell-Pope struggled as a shooter in Orlando, hitting 3s at his lowest accuracy (34%) since 2015-16, he was outstanding defensively and should be an upgrade for the Grizzlies at that end of the court. And Anthony would give them an additional ballhandling option behind Morant and Scotty Pippen Jr<\/a>. Having seen his efficiency decline after two seasons as a high-end backup point guard, Anthony is probably due to bounce back as well.<\/p>\n Another move is likely coming for Memphis, which added to its 2025-26 salary with this trade. The Grizzlies had seemingly been targeting cap space with an eye toward renegotiating Jackson’s contract in conjunction with a long-term extension, the only way to realistically get him signed long term after he missed out on All-NBA and supermax eligibility. Moving John Konchar<\/a>‘s $6.2 million salary would give Memphis sufficient room to bump up Jackson’s contract by about $10 million and offer him an extension starting at nearly $48 million.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/_end_rule.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n