The Houston Rockets may not be done reshaping the roster around Kevin Durant.
After last summer’s bold swing to land Durant, Houston clearly chose the short road to contention. But the payoff never fully arrived this past season, and now another major move is being floated - one that would send Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. out in exchange for Anthony Davis and Jamir Watkins.
ESPN’s NBA Insiders said the Rockets were in position to build around Durant after finishing second in the West, with “only one starter (guard Fred VanVleet) older than 28.” The idea was simple: keep enough young talent to chase a title without giving up the core pieces that made the team appealing in the first place.
But Houston’s season took hits beyond Durant’s presence. Injuries to veteran leaders altered the team’s shape and, according to ESPN, created problems that went well past the box score.
“Interviews with team sources and those with knowledge of the team's operations reveal that the VanVleet injury, and the season-ending ankle injury to Steven Adams later on, impacted the team in ways that extended off the floor. Beyond the team's glaring lack of playmaking, their absences created a massive leadership void that Durant and the team struggled to fill,” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Tim MacMahon wrote.
That’s the backdrop for SI’s Landon Buford’s proposed deal. He wrote that Houston could send Sengun and Smith to Washington for Davis and Watkins, and noted that ESPN’s trade machine shows the swap as workable, with neither side’s winning percentage changing.
Buford also pointed to the kind of ceiling the Rockets could chase if the stars line up.
“According to ESPN’s trade machine, a trade of Anthony Davis and Jamir Watkins for Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. is successful, with neither move affecting the winning percentage for their respective teams. However, if Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis can both stay healthy the Rockets could be a top-four seed in the Western Conference and a lock for a second-round appearance, at least with the additions of Marcus Smart, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and, when Fred VanVleet returns from his injury,” Buford wrote.
If Houston did something that dramatic, the roster would still include VanVleet and Adams, giving the team more established voices around younger players like Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard. That kind of veteran layer would matter as those two keep growing.
Davis, meanwhile, has earned $364 million in his career and would be eligible for an extension if Houston wanted to treat him as part of the long-term plan. And if the Rockets believed Davis was in for the long haul, that could make Durant more comfortable sticking with the future too.
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