Today will go down as a day rich with NBA history.
A few hours before Game 7 of the NBA Finals, future first-ballot Hall of Famer Kevin Durant was traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets.
The Durant trade package was underwhelming for Phoenix — all they got was Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and the no. 10 overall pick in this year’s draft.
BREAKING: The Phoenix Suns are trading two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 draft and five second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/EwrbA2ES9O
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 22, 2025
A Phoenix backcourt of Devin Booker and Jalen Green would send the Suns careening back toward missing the play-in once again in a loaded Western Conference, and it looks likely the Suns will be rerouting Green to another team.
The next 2 dominos: KD's potential extension, and if/where (and I suspect it's very, very likely) PHX eventually re-routes Jalen Green
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 22, 2025
If and when Green is eventually rerouted in the coming weeks, the Wizards need to stay as far away as possible. Green is the forbidden fruit of young NBA players — the tantalizing prospect of his ceiling as a scorer masks some deep decision-making and consistency issues that I’m not quite sure can be rectified.
Green is a talented player who is capable of erupting for 40 points on any given night. The problem with him, however, is that he is just as, if not more, likely to disappear and post single-digit points. In the Rockets’ seven-game first round loss to the Golden State Warriors this year, these were Green’s point totals: 7, 38, 9, 8, 11, 12, 8.
I see Green as a future microwave scoring sixth man, not as a centerpiece of a serious team. Someone is going to trade for him, and they are going to overpay for someone who is not a winning player as a leading factor on a team. (I’d put money on the Charlotte Hornets being the team to jump at the chance to trade for a player who fits that bill).
The Wizards cannot afford to be the team that hitches its wagon to Jalen Green. As much as Wizards fans may chafe at this comparison, they already have a player like Green who is generally effective as a sixth man whose minutes can be yanked around, yet is ineffective as a leading man — Jordan Poole.
Poole has experienced success at the highest level coming off the bench for the Golden State Warriors, but he has yet to lead a Wizards team to even 20 wins as the best player. Trading for Green would merely add a second Poole and keep the Wizards on a treadmill of rebuilding for the foreseeable future.