With Dallas entering a total rebuild, a blockbuster reunion between Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving could provide the veteran firepower Houston needs to conquer the Western Conference.
After the Houston Rockets flamed out in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, as recapped on Roundtable, there’s been plenty of speculation about what their future holds. Whether it’s trading Durant away after one season, getting more help for KD, or just running it back with the same team —— I’ve seen just about every possible outcome theorized.
One of the newest and most intriguing ideas that’s been suggested is reuniting two stars from the early 2020’s Brooklyn Nets. Not an extremely successful team, but certainly one of the more talented teams in recent history.
Jed Katz of SportsIllustrated recently touched on the idea of bringing Kyrie Irving to Houston. With turmoil in Dallas just down I-45, this could actually be a realistic acquisition for Rafael Stone to look at.
While the Mavericks do have the reigning Rookie of the Year in Cooper Flagg, they’re obviously fully bought in to the rebuild now. Trading Anthony Davis to DC for virtually no immediate return made that clear.
It became even more obvious after hiring Masai Ujiri as the President of Basketball Operations, as he swiftly chose to part ways with Jason Kidd. Kyrie Irving is basically the last man standing, certainly the best player left from their 2024 Finals run.
With that being said, it’s no surprise that the future Hall of Fame guard has been in trade talks, even coming off of an ACL injury. Conveniently enough, the Rockets are already prepping for the return of a different small guarding recovering from an ACL injury.
With Fred VanVleet getting surgery on September 25th of last year, he’ll have just over a year of time to recover before the start of next season. Irving, on the other hand got surgery six months prior on March 26th, 2025. He’s already had over a year to recovery, if that means anything.
Freddy obviously gets a lot of love in Houston and it would be hard to trade him. He’s a leader of the team even when he wasn’t playing, and you’ve got to imagine the chemistry is still there. There’s also no drama with him, where it’s a question mark with Irving.
To Kyrie’s credit, all reports are that he’s been great off the court in Dallas, even with that organization falling apart following the Luka Doncic trade.
I personally wouldn’t have any behavioral concerns with bringing him in, as long as there’s no behind the scenes drama with KD. Maybe that burner leak was just too much though, who knows.
Either way, this is one of the few trades I’ve seen that I actually sort of like. The Rockets ideally wouldn’t have to give up much, and particularly not any key pieces that helped the team last year.
