As rumors swirl around the 37-year-old superstar seeking another powerhouse roster, Detroit’s meteoric rise makes them the perfect landing spot for the NBA’s ultimate ring-chaser. Unfortunately for Pistons fans, it takes two to tango.
Recent rumors suggest that Houston Rockets’ 37 year old star is seeking pathways to play with a top Eastern Conference team. As previously covered on Roundtable, he could want to join a top one seed from last season, in fact.
The Detroit Pistons hadn’t reached the 50 win mark in 17 seasons, then managed to leapfrog that completely last year. They won 60 or more games for the first time since 2005-2006, per RealGM.
It’s not all that shocking for anyone to want to join a good team, but especially not Kevin Durant. That’s exactly how he got to the Rockets in the first place.
After being a lottery team in the post-Harden era, Houston fought back to .500 and eventually a 52 win season, securing them second place in the West. That’s exactly when Durant chose to join the team, which is certainly not a coincidence.
The Phoenix Suns made it to the NBA Finals in 2021, and despite falling short, they had an even better regular season the following year.
They won a franchise record 64 games in 2021-2022, and Durant decided to join the team the very next season. To his credit, they weren’t performing at the same level any more, so he didn’t jump in while they were at their best.
The 73-9 Golden State Warriors were obviously at their very best when Durant joined, despite still losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. Still, already a decade ago now, Durant chose to join that infamous team.
Point being, he’s no stranger to jumping on the bandwagon. If there’s smoke about him wanting to join Detroit, then there might be fire.
The Pistons’ most valuable asset aside from Cade Cunningham would have to be Jalen Duren, but that’s dependent on how his new contract looks. He could end up being extremely overpaid.
Even if he weren’t to get a full max contract, I still don’t know why Houston would want him in a sign-and-trade. He doesn’t fit with the other non-shooters on the team.
Duren struggled offensively in the playoffs, and the entire Rockets roster can struggle offensively. That’s why Kevin Durant is so important on the team to begin with. That swap doesn’t make sense without many more moves.
Also, sign-and-trade deals usually happen when one team has their backs against the wall, which Detroit just might, but those teams rarely get a solid return.
It’s more likely to be a bare minimum return, just simply to prevent their player from walking away for absolutely nothing.
Look at the Warriors’ deal that ensured Durant wouldn’t leave without at least getting something in return. They got D’Angelo Russell and picks back, but ultimately turned that into Andrew Wiggins and won another championship.
Regardless of how successful that was for the Warriors, they still didn’t get a superstar in return. They definitely didn’t get a player better than the one they gave up, and they didn’t get a haul of draft picks either.
To further that point, the Miami Heat only had to trade Josh Richardson and Hassan Whiteside to land a prime Jimmy Butler back in 2019. Again, not the kind of huge package you’d expect superstars to go for under normal circumstances.
Teams are pinned by the leverage of free agency, but that player has to be a real threat to sign elsewhere. I don’t see why the Rockets would want to sign Jalen Duren to a massive contract, so I’m not sure what leverage he has.
This seems more like the hopes and dreams of Detroit fans trying to find out what’s going on with their big man. It doesn’t seem like something the Rockets should or would entertain.
