The SHOCKING truth behind the Kevin Durant Trade...

The shocking truth behind the Kevin Durant trade has just been revealed with major details coming out that you do not want to miss. It's very clear KD has never been more happy about joining a team than he is about joining the Houston Rockets. Welcome to Rockets Digest, I'm Jace Andrews and I appreciate you joining us. There has never been a better time to subscribe and yet 76% of you have not subscribed yet who are watching these videos. What are you doing? Today is the day if you're one of those 76%ers, well join us, hit that subscribe button, you're not going to miss what comes next for the Houston Rockets and we have you covered every step of the way. Okay, the Kevin Durant trade was huge, obviously Sham Sharanya breaking at this Sunday morning was an absolute amazing time. But now as the dust settles, we're starting to get more and more reports, more and more things that came out about this trade that are key, key, key details. We start with a couple reports from Eben Sidery and he says the first one being the Suns were hoping to acquire Jabari Smith Jr. as a featured piece in the Kevin Durant trade. Now we know this because all the reports that were coming out were saying that Jabari Smith was the lone piece that was holding up this trade, that the Rockets were not giving in, they were not going to let the Phoenix Suns get Jabari Smith Jr. and that was the piece that the Suns were saying, okay, if you're not going to give him to it, then we aren't going to make this trade. But in the end, Phoenix folded, Sidery says, to Houston who refused to include Smith throughout the negotiation process, which again, Raphael Stone, the Houston Rockets front office, even Amy Odoka has done a fantastic job through this entire process and I cannot be more happy and proud to say that I am a Houston Rockets fan and did not get shafted in this trade whatsoever. Now, Jabari Smith Jr. is going to be able to be mentored by Kevin Durant. That is going to be legendary and in the first video, if you watched it earlier today, breaking down this trade, we talked about how the Rockets have a three-year window and such because Kevin Durant is going to probably sign a two, three-year extension and that's what the Rockets have to go out and win a championship. And after that, it was a bit of a question mark, but given they were able to keep Jabari Smith Jr., he has been compared in a lot of ways to a Kevin Durant type player. And now Kevin Durant will get to take Jabari under his wing, play with him on the starting five and it could create Jabari to make him into a star player even more than maybe he would have become without KD. And I'm sad about losing Jalen Green, 100%. I think he is going to be a star in the NBA one day, especially since he's only 23, almost 24 years old. But the Rockets have a lot more stars that are now going to be mentored by Kevin Durant and I'm very excited to see them. Now a couple more reports coming in talking about all this. Dylan Brooks was included in this trade and here is kind of the interesting part about this. Dylan Brooks was actually the key addition for the Suns in the Kevin Durant trade. As Phoenix will likely explore rerouting Jalen Green to expand this deal, Brooks will slide right into a starting wing role alongside Devin Booker. Phoenix wants culture-setting players and Brooks provides that. And a couple of different things on that. First one being, it has now been reported that Jalen Green is actually not going to be shopped by the Phoenix Suns. They are going to keep him, they're going to try and shop Bradley Beal, which no one wants Bradley Beal, so they're going to have good luck with that. Dylan Brooks came into Houston, was a very good culture-setting player, and has been a huge reason of Houston's success over the past couple of years. I think when he was signed by the Houston Rockets, or whenever he landed with Houston, and Fred VanVleet came over with Houston, that was the tone-setter. And for Phoenix, maybe Dylan Brooks wasn't the piece that they were begging to get. I think he is a huge piece, and I think the Phoenix Suns fans should be very happy because he is going to set the tone for the future. And that's exactly what he did for the Houston Rockets. It came in here, he set the tone, and honestly, he helped lead these young guys on how to be confident in some ways. Fred VanVleet is a very good player and a veteran, but Dylan Brooks has the confidence to him that, I'm the best player on the court, and he knows he's not, but he believes that every time he steps on a basketball court, that he is the best player. And I think that is a very key part that Phoenix should be excited about. They should be very, very happy with. And one more thing to kind of bring up on this, just because I'm so excited. The starting lineup for the now-Kevin Durant Rockets is absolutely fantastic. The ones Fred VanVleet, the two Almond Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperin Shingoon, oh my gosh, we've been freaking praying for times like these. Jalen Green was a huge piece of this team, I understand. He's young, he's going to be a star, I believe that. But this is not a Shea Gilgis-Alexander for Paul George. This is not a Tyrese Halliburton for Sabonis trade. This is nowhere close to that. This is Kevin Durant, not Paul George. No disrespect to Paul George, he's not Kevin Durant. And for Sabonis, I don't even have to say anything about that. This team got better. Did they have to grow up a young talent that could easily turn into an NBA star? 1,000%. But Jalen Green has had four years in the NBA. Shea Gilgis-Alexander, to my knowledge, was not in LA for that long. Tyrese Halliburton was not in Sacramento for that long. It's a different trade, it's a different thing. And now the Rockets, who have built this team up in just two years, going from a below 500 team by about 20 games, not looking like a good team. And then they hired Emira Tokun, got Fred Van Vliet, got Dylan Brooks. Jalen Green started to come into his own in the past two years. Obviously, Alperen Shingoon, and Ahmed Thompson, and Jabari Smith. It became a tone setter going 41 and 41. Then this year, 52 wins, being able to get that number two seed in the Western Conference, and a very talented and very combined Western Conference. And they did fall in the first round to a very good Warriors team, but this was what they needed. Kevin Durant is happy to be here. And that's kind of where we go more into detail in this report, because we got a little bit of talk from him at the Fanatics Fan Festival. And you talk about Kevin Durant, and this is kind of something that has been growing in him for a while. Phoenix was supposed to be a place that was a super team, and he was supposed to lead this team. And he did for the most part, 26.6 points, but it seemed like whatever he did in Phoenix was never going to be enough for the Suns fans and for the Suns organization. And so when the trade happened, it was a very interesting situation, because, well, he kind of talked to Kay Adams at the Fanatics Fan Festival, and he had this to say, saying, well, let's first go to the question. Kay Adams asked, there's a whole lot of heartbroken Suns fans, and Katie said, I doubt that. They wanted me to go, so I'm glad they got what they wanted, and I got what I wanted. We can move on. Good luck to them going forward, and I'll always remember my time there. Oh, what? This guy does not like the Phoenix Suns. I mean, I know that was respectful, but that is somebody who is like, ah, I'm good, especially when you go and look and say that he is joining a squadron of Alperen, Shingun, and Ahmed Thompson. This is now the big three of the Houston Rockets right here, and this doesn't even have Jabari Smith, Jr. This doesn't even have Tarhees. This doesn't even have a Fred VanVleet, potentially, if he stays on contract through a more team-friendly deal. Like, this team is going to be so good next year, and I'm so excited to watch it actually pull out. Now, we got a couple more quotes from Mr. Kevin Durant at the Fanatics Fan Festival, because Donovan had the video on it earlier. Him finding out there was actually kind of perfect, because it allowed him to kind of react. He knew it was happening. And him and his business partner, I don't have the video for you here, but if you go on Twitter, they shared a moment where Rich Klyman literally dapped up Kevin Durant. They were jumping and happy, and it just shows how excited he is to be a Houston Rocket. And that's where we kind of go into these quotes from Kevin Durant. And Hay Adams asked, why Houston? And he said, quote, they had a great season last year. I loved their leadership, and I felt like it would be a good, I felt like I would be a good addition, end quote. Which is true. Great season last year. Him and Emil Doka have a relationship from Emil being an assistant on Brooklyn. Obviously, that was when Kevin Durant was in Brooklyn, so they have a relationship there. And then the other quote that I thought was very interesting, and I liked a lot, on why he was so happy this entire interview. He was smiling. He was excited. And Hay Adams, he said, she asked, like, you're smiling. Why? And he said, quote, being able to dictate what you want to do and be able to be with a team that values you, I'm looking forward to it, end quote. For all intents and purposes, Kevin Durant does not feel like the Phoenix Suns valued him, and they did not feel like, he did not feel like whatever he did was ever going to be enough for Phoenix. Now he's on a team who values him, who wants him, a coach that has a history and a relationship with him, and a team that is in a very good spot, already going to win. Phoenix was in a good spot when they traded for Kevin Durant, but the cards and the stars did not align. They are much better in Houston. A guy who went to UT for college, he played in Oklahoma earlier, and now there is a very real possibility that next year's Western Conference Finals will feature the Rockets and a potential of either the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant's former team, or the Dallas Mavericks, another Texas team, if Cooper Flagg works out, obviously. I'm excited for all that comes, and for the people worrying that it's going to be a rental, for people worrying, saying that, well, he still has to sign that extension, don't worry. Lanshard Binkley, great follow on Twitter, covers everything Rockets hoops, if you don't follow him, go out there, he says, for anyone concerned that KD is a rental, there's no way that the Rockets and KD don't already have an extension in place. I will say, there is a little bit of a caveat to that. If Kevin Durant waits six months, he is able to get about two million more dollars, so we'll kind of go on that and talk through when that extension could fully come, but for all intents and purposes, maybe wait a little bit, wait like six months or so, because then he's going to be able to get a little more money. That's all we've got for you today, though, on Rockets Digest, and I'll tell you what, I'm really excited about this trade, I'm happy that Kevin Durant is going to be playing in a Rockets uniform, and I am very, very, very pumped, because we have so much more content, so many more videos, and today is your time to subscribe again. If you are in that 76.3% that are not subscribed, that are watching these videos, what are you waiting for? We are the place to be for Houston Rockets content, hit that subscribe button, and we will see you next time, right here on Rockets Digest. Peace out, everybody.