Durant s trade progress: The Suns are actively selling KD, want Rockets Smith Jr.?

The Rockets and Suns' deal with Durant is still in progress. In fact, in addition to the Rockets, the Heat, the Timberwolves, and even the San Antonio Spurs and the Clippers all have the chance to get Durant.

According to the latest reports, the Rockets do not seem to have a particularly strong pursuit of Durant. After all, although Durant, 37, has good combat power, no one knows whether he can still play this season's level in a few years. Moreover, Durant's contract will expire after next season. The Rockets lack salary space, so it is unlikely that they will give Durant a large contract with an annual salary of more than 60 million yuan. In that case, some young players in the Rockets' current lineup will not have the chance to renew their contracts, such as Smith Jr., Ethan or Amen Thompson. On June 17, we also saw the latest developments of the Suns' trade against Durant. Although according to statistics, the Heat leads the probability of trading Durant, the Rockets are also ranked second. Behind them are also teams including the Raptors, Spurs and other teams. Although Durant is older, he is still a hot spot in the trading market. After all, a super scorer who averages 26 points per game is the target every team wants to win.

According to famous NBA reporter Mark Stern, in this trade negotiation, the Suns are always the more active party in the deal compared to the Rockets. In other words, the Suns took the initiative to sell Durant to the Rockets. Their goal is to exchange for the Rockets' three first-round picks in the future, and even want some young players from the Rockets.

The reporter continued to report that in the first round of the playoffs, the Rockets' offense had problems and they were eventually eliminated 3:4 in 7 games. Although there are some trading options that may make them abandon their long-standing team-building ideas, one of them is to get Durant. And his friend, another famous journalist, Kelly Ico, reported on Saturday that Smith Jr. is already a player who is very interested in the Suns.

So, the Rockets seem unmoved now. They don't want to put Smith Jr. into the trade, but the Suns are more active. They want to quickly take Durant in exchange for their first-round draft pick left with the Rockets. Of course, they also want 22-year-old Jabbarry Smith. After all, Smith Jr. is known as "Durant Jr.". His personal ability, height, body shape, and personal style are similar to Durant. They are all tall and thin players, with very good athletic ability, and their movements on the court are very coordinated, and they all have good shooting ability. Moreover, Smith is young enough. At the age of 22, he is very suitable for the Suns' reconstruction and can also partner with Booker. In this way, the Suns' reconstruction will be faster and faster.

So if the Suns can get draft picks and Smith Jr., I believe the Suns are willing to send Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets, but the Rockets have not let go and have not agreed to such a trading plan. The tug-of-war in the Durant trade is still going on.