The Houston Rockets recently traded for a 37-year-old superstar in Kevin Durant, but that doesn’t mean the team’s focus has shifted strictly to a short-term view.
Patrick Fertitta, son of Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and an increasingly important figure in Houston’s front office, spoke Monday with Matt Thomas of SportsTalk 790 and explained that the appeal of acquiring Durant was in part due to its relatively low price point.
In comments from Monday’s Toyota Center media day to open training camp for the 2025-26 season, Fertitta offered this analysis (via The Matt Thomas Show with Ross):
The right player, and the right deal, presented itself. By no means do I think, ‘We’re going all-in.’ Absolutely not. The deal that we did, the player that we brought in, and what we left ourselves with allows us to be hyper-competitive and have title hopes now… but it does not foreclose anything next year, or in the years following.
We feel like we did something that made us really good now, but it doesn’t hinder our ability to be great in the future, as well.
Me, Rafael (Stone) and his staff, and Ime (Udoka), we all have a long-term view, and we want to be good for a long time. We’ve just got to be opportunistic. When the right thing comes, we’ll take a hard look at it. It’s usually a pass, but on this one, we said, ‘Let’s go. Let’s do this.’
To Fertitta’s point, the Rockets gave up only one first-round draft asset in the trade, and that was the No. 10 overall selection in 2025 (which became Duke center Khaman Maluach). Dillon Brooks was and is a role player, and he was quickly replaced in the following weeks by Dorian Finney-Smith, a veteran free agent signing of a similar archetype.
The Rockets did lose Jalen Green, the top scorer from last season’s 52-30 team that finished No. 2 in the Western Conference. But Durant is an immediate upgrade in that perimeter role, and there were questions as to Green’s average efficiency and his playoff underperformance.
So in the end, Houston was able to bring in the 15-time All-Star while not relinquishing its most prized future draft capital (first-round assets in 2027 and 2029 from Brooklyn and Phoenix) or its most coveted young prospects — namely, Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Reed Sheppard, and Tari Eason.
Thus, even as Durant inevitably shows some signs of aging in the coming years, the hope is that those will be offset by continued growth and development from young players and other draft assets that are still in the pipeline (which can also be used in future trades).
“We made some meaningful sacrifices,” Fertitta said of Houston’s rebuilding movement from late 2020 until mid-2023. “We wanted to put ourselves in a position where we could ultimately contend, and contend in a way that was sustainable. Not just taking a shot here and there, but saying we have a five, seven, or 10-year run at this.”
That’s where Durant comes into play. As the Rockets see it, his presence opens the contending window sooner, but it shouldn’t shut it any faster. And he should also help the continued development of those core prospects.
“We think it’s the right fit,” Fertitta said. “Kevin is a special player, one of the greatest players of all-time, and you have to take advantage and be opportunistic when those things present themselves.”
“He works as hard as anybody that we’ve ever had in the building,” Fertitta noted. “He’s a great teammate. Part of the reason why he wanted to be here, and why he is here, is that he’s a believer in what we have going. He’s confident in the veterans we have, and more importantly, that the youth we have are on their way to being impactful, special players.”
If Durant wasn’t 37, or if he didn’t have only one year left on his previous contract, acquiring a player of his caliber likely would’ve cost more of that youth.
In this case, as counter-intuitive as it might initially seem, the reduced asset cost could make it to where bringing in an older star leads to a longer window of title contention.
