Adding a player of Kevin Durant’s caliber was too valuable an opportunity for the Houston Rockets to pass up, even though it meant moving on from Jalen Green just four seasons after they drafted him second overall.
Durant was officially acquired from Phoenix on Sunday in a complicated seven-team transaction that sent Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns and brought Clint Capela back to Houston from the Atlanta Hawks.
General manager Rafael Stone is thrilled to add the future Hall of Famer, who will turn 37 in September, to a team which made a huge leap last season to earn the second seed in the Western Conference.
Asked Monday why he wanted to add Durant to the team, Stone smiled broadly before answering.
“He’s Kevin Durant,” Stone said. “He’s just — he’s really good. He’s super-efficient. He had a great year last year. He’s obviously not 30 anymore, but he hasn’t really fallen off, and we just think he has a chance to really be impactful for us.”
But trading Green to get him was not an easy decision for Stone, Houston’s general manager since 2020.
“Jalen is awesome, [and] Stone said: “He did everything we asked, it is a wonderful mix of talents and work ethics along with being just a great person. At any time you have the privilege of work with a talented person and work really and really gentle, you must appreciate it. In orderly, we have appreciated it greatly, so yes it is very difficult.”
Al -Akhdar was criticized for his rise and landing during the post -season when the missiles were eliminated before Golden State Warriors In seven games in the first round, but Green has improved in both his four seasons in Houston, where he led the team in scoring last season and played all 82 games in the past two seasons.
He was clicked for details about the reason for the end of Green’s time in Houston, Stone will not enter details.
“that it The American Professional League He said, “You can not do trading unless a certain amount of money comes out and a certain amount comes and there is some local interference or at least overlap in terms of the presence of the ball.” This requires the deal. “
In Durant, Rockkets get an old warrior in nearly two decades and an average of 26.6 points and six rebound balls last season and has an average profession 27.2 points and seven rebound balls.
Houston loves the veteran experience and the presence brought by Durant. Stone indicated that the team has arranged for some of its players to work with him in both experienced experiences.
“The ethics of his work is great,” Stone said. “The speed he goes to, not in a game … but the speed he practices and the density he practices is something that made it great throughout the year, and he started when it was very small. So all the things that I hope will explode, this is the main basis that I think highlights this practice makes it perfect. And I think one of the reasons you enjoy in an excellent profession because of the leader who works in the daily.”
Durant is the hero of every star 15 times and four times, and MVP finals twice. the previous Texas Longorn He is one of eight players in the history of the American Professional League, scoring at least 30,000 points, and won the American Professional League title in 2017 and 2018 with Warriors.
Now he will join a team that chases his first title in the American Professional League since he won successive championships in 1994-1995.
Stone said: “It must play everything, but we do it – we love the fit,” Stone said. “We believe it is going well. We think it will add to us and believe that we will help him.”
Report by Associated Press.
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