Kevin Durant has brought a curse with him to Houston from Phoenix

The Kevin Durant era with the Phoenix Suns will always feel like a "what could have been" situation, but at least everybody involved got a happy ending out of it. The Suns have moved on, while Durant is now with the Houston Rockets and has championship aspirations once more. Going at Ja Morant's family was a weird move, but we should expect nothing less from the self-proclaimed master troll.

Morant doesn't look like he will be with the Memphis Grizzlies for much longer - a situation the Suns can exploit - and Durant had a bit of fun with this during the recent game between the Rockets and Grizzlies. With point guard Fred VanVleet done for the season, Morant is ironically just what the Rockets need to become true contenders. Only it's not going to happen.

Rockets are now in first apron after trading for Durant.

It was a phrase you heard often when Durant was in The Valley, and it meant they were unable to upgrade their roster the way they would have liked. As a result of having both Durant and Bradley Beal, the franchise were in the second apron and so were massively restricted when it came to making trades.

This is why they broke up a valuable first round pick to move on from Jusuf Nurkic, and why chatter about adding Nikola Vucevic was never going to amount to anything. Once Durant was moved on and Beal was bought out - a decision that gets better by the hour - it once again enabled the Suns to get involved in all kinds of trades.

It is how they were able to add center Mark Williams, while moving on from Grayson Allen in the near future could also net them something of real value back in return. Contrast that with the Rockets, and although they would surely love to add Morant or another available floor general for the season, adding Durant means that is much more difficult to achieve.

Right now that is not a problem, because the Rockets have a jumbo lineup that works and they are winning games. But if they need to make changes as the season unfolds, having a 37-year-old future Hall of Fame player on their roster means that they will not be able to. The great irony being that moving on from Durant would be the only realistic way to improve.

Which was the exact position the Suns found themselves in, with Beal having a no-trade clause and the organization obviously never going to move Devin Booker. Flexibility in the NBA today is one of the greatest tools a franchise can have, and Kevin Durant has taken it away from the Rockets while in turn finally giving it back to the Suns.