{"id":124394,"date":"2025-06-25T20:32:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T20:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/124394\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T20:32:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T20:32:26","slug":"miami-heat-miss-out-on-kevin-durant-as-erik-spoelstra-seeks-to-improve-roster-after-back-to-back-first-round-playoff-losses-hot-hot-hoops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/124394\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Heat miss out on Kevin Durant as Erik Spoelstra seeks to improve roster after back-to-back first round playoff losses – Hot Hot Hoops"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jimmy(Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

For some weeks now, the Miami Heat had been sniffing around veteran NBA legend Kevin Durant, with head coach Erik Spoelstra trying to improve a roster that fell to early playoff losses in each of their last two seasons. However, they have seemingly missed out on signing the 36-year-old, with stories surfacing that suggest that the two-time NBA champion is heading to the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n

Durant moved to the Phoenix Suns in 2023, after a four-year spell with the Brooklyn Nets, and many fans and pundits feel that the move to the Rockets will make the Toyota Center outfit a title contender.<\/p>\n

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By all accounts, one of the reasons the Heat failed to snap up Durant was their unwillingness to make an attractive enough deal to persuade the Suns to part with the 15-time NBA All-Star pick.<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s outspoken host Stephen A. Smith certainly believes that the move the Rockets have made is one that will make them genuine title challengers<\/a>, commenting on the reported trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing we looked at with Houston in terms of what they were lacking was a No. 1 offensive option. When everything falls apart, give this person the ball and get the hell out of the way. They got it, now. His name is Kevin Durant, and he is no joke. The Houston Rockets, I\u2019m telling you right now, they are instant title contenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks will move to the Suns as part of the deal, and Smith had a lot to say about guard Green in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad that man shown up in the postseason against the Warriors and played better, this wouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJalen Green showed he ain\u2019t ready, and the rest of the Rockets showed they very well may be ready,\u201d Smith added.<\/p>\n

The Rockets performed well last season, finishing with an impressive 52-30 regular season record, their best since 2018-19, and then took the Golden State Warriors to seven games before losing in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The fact that head coach Ime Udoka did so with a relatively young roster is a good sign, and bringing in an experienced head like Durant could well be just what the doctor ordered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Houston Rockets last reached the NBA Finals in 1994\/95, beating the Orlando Magic in four games, and there\u2019s every chance that Udoka\u2019s side could mount a strong challenge in 2025\/26, and the Miami Heat\u2019s loss is very much the Houston Rockets\u2019 gain.<\/p>\n

Having snapped up Durant, there is also talk of a mega deal to bring in Milwaukee Bucks Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo, though at this time, such a trade is very much pure speculation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images) For some weeks now, the Miami Heat had been sniffing around veteran NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,1200,144,938,6779,7680,295,189,3881,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-124394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-erik-spoelstra","10":"tag-heat","11":"tag-kevin-durant","12":"tag-kevin-durant-heat","13":"tag-kevin-durant-trade","14":"tag-miami","15":"tag-miami-heat","16":"tag-miamiheat","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114745910520465471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}