{"id":738256,"date":"2026-05-19T07:39:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/738256\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T07:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:39:21","slug":"nba-mock-trade-rockets-acquire-mvp-candidate-in-blockbuster-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/738256\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Mock Trade: Rockets Acquire MVP Candidate in Blockbuster Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Rockets find themselves at a crossroads this NBA offseason. Last year, they took a major leap into ‘win now’ mode, trading some valuable assets for Kevin Durant<\/a>. Unfortunately, his first season back in Texas was disappointing, ending in a first-round playoff exit.<\/p>\n

Now, Houston has the opportunity to upgrade the roster, but two questions come with that: Should the organization part ways with a few players, and if so, who should be the target? There are a few big names<\/a> expected to be available this summer, but one in particular stands out.<\/p>\n

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Jaylen Brown is coming off the best season of his career, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game on 48-35-80 shooting splits. He finished sixth in MVP voting, leading an undermanned Boston Celtics squad to the second seed in the Eastern Conference without Jayson Tatum<\/a> for the majority of the year.<\/p>\n

But trade rumors are swirling with Brown’s value at an all-time high, and the Celtics have a clear need for a balanced rotation. Boston could part ways with the 29-year-old in an effort to get better now and in the future.<\/p>\n

The Rockets may not have any one piece that could satisfy the Celtics, but, in theory, they could put together a package to entice the president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens. The following mock trade gives Boston both assets for the now and the future:<\/p>\n

Houston Rockets receive: Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser<\/a>Boston Celtics receive: Kevin Durant, Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a>, 2027 first-round pick (via PHX), 2028 first-round pick, 2026 second-round pick (No. 39)<\/p>\n

In this deal, Houston would save just over $4 million on their books while taking back assets that fill its needs. Brown has proven he can lead a rotation across a wide stretch of games as one of the best two-way players in basketball. While Hauser’s production was underwhelming this season, he can still provide elite three-point shooting when in the right position.<\/p>\n

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As for Boston, the organization would take back a 37-year-old Durant, but coming off another efficient season with averages of 26 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists on 52-41-87 shooting splits. He’s a lot older than Brown, but a more elite scoring threat.<\/p>\n

The Celtics would also take back a great amount of draft capital, including a valuable 2027 first-round pick from the Phoenix Suns<\/a>. In total, they’d receive a star in Durant, a 3&D veteran in Finney-Smith, two first-round picks and a second-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on www.si.com\/nba\/rockets\/onsi as NBA Mock Trade: Rockets Acquire MVP Candidate in Blockbuster Deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Rockets find themselves at a crossroads this NBA offseason. Last year, they took a major leap…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,45,75,374,292,194,4066,78,77,938,2740,6,10837,472,211,2080,5311,3209],"class_list":["post-738256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-rockets","tag-basketball","tag-boston","tag-boston-celtics","tag-dorian-finney-smith","tag-houston","tag-houston-rockets","tag-houstonrockets","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-kevin-durant","tag-massachusetts","tag-nba","tag-paul-rutherford-imagn","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-rockets","tag-sam-hauser","tag-the-celtics","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116600108706637660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738256","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=738256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}