The landscape in the Western Conference has officially shifted. Kevin Durant is on his way to Texas after Shams Charania broke the news of the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets finally agreeing to a trade for the future Hall of Fame superstar.
Charania announced, “The Phoenix Suns are trading two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 draft and five second-round picks, sources tell ESPN.”
Blockbuster trade on the final day of the NBA season. The Suns engaged in deep conversations with the two Durant finalists — Houston and Miami — over the last 24 hours and reached agreement on the deal Sunday morning. https://t.co/2rZedTD6q1
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 22, 2025
The Rockets did pretty well for themselves in this deal with regard to retaining value. Sacrificing the 10th overall pick was a necessity and a foregone conclusion to most. Only surrendering Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks in the player portion of the trade was masterful.
Houston can now enter next season with a starting lineup of Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson, Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., and Alperen Sengun. That, coupled with some quality bench pieces, has created another imposing threat in the way of the Los Angeles Lakers to Western Conference supremacy in 2025-26.
New challenger heightens need for Rob Pelinka to deliver this offseason
The Lakers already had plenty of reasons as to why this offseason would be a crucial one for the franchise. Having another team near their hierarchical positioning get substantially better only furthers the need to do everything possible to surround Luka Doncic with a contender this summer.
Doncic and LeBron James will need to be given the tools to compete in the Western Conference. Rob Pelinka cannot be afforded many wasted motions.
One could look at the Rockets and think the Lakers still have a better path to playoff success with their superstar duo. However, the NBA Finals matchup this season has proven the value of having a well-built and filled out roster.
The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers both had those components. Now, the Rockets are well on their way to that club as well.
The Lakers have proven the opposite. Of the many reasons that one can highlight for their first-round exit against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the lack of solid fundamental roster structure around Doncic and James was evidently a main orchestrator of their demise.
It is not difficult to look at this Lakers team and identify which areas need to be bolstered. Magic Johnson was more than capable of point out the core upgrades necessary. The execution of the process will be the matter that gets Pelinka put under a microscope during this offseason.
