Kevin Durant has given Rockets perfect gift that he denied Suns

Although it is early days in this NBA season, there is a chance that both the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets won the Kevin Durant mega trade of the offseason. The Suns were given the opportunity to reboot their roster around Devin Booker - and some guys have already stepped up - while the Rockets moved into title contention with the addition of Durant.

The arrivals of Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks may not have been the perfect swap for Durant's offensive talents, especially with Green yet to suit up in Phoenix, but the team are trying to build an identity around defending and Brooks brings a lot to the table there. As for the Rockets, they've managed to slot Durant into their offensive schemes seamlessly.

Rockets lead NBA in offensive rating since arrival of Durant.

Although it should come as no surprise to see the Rockets scoring 126.5 points, the best mark in the entire league, since adding the 37-year-old future Hall of Fame player, the fact they've managed to achieve this with a jumbo lineup that looked clunky is testement to Durant's offensive abilities. Only it wasn't like that when he was with the Suns, despite them trying harder for this to be the case.

You would think having Durant and Booker would equal instant offensive success, but in their two full seasons together the Suns ranked 13th and 10th in this area. Not a bad return, but owner Mat Ishbia went out and got Bradley Beal and even Jusuf Nurkic to make that end of the court work flawlessly each night.

That never happened, which is biggest argument for why the Suns were right to trade Durant this summer. If he's not going to be the final piece of a roster that then becomes truly elite offensively, as he is now with the Rockets, then you're not getting the best out of him and that is your own fault. Perhaps the only negative here is that the Suns didn't engage the San Antonio Spurs more for a deal.

With Durant now out of the picture, the offense has also taken on more of a "by committee" form, and this has led to the team taking more 3-pointers than most in the early goings of the season. It would be nice to move away from Brooks taking the most shots each night as he was before going down with a groin issue, but exiting the Durant era was never going to be a smooth exercise.

So while Durant has given the Rockets everything he was supposed to give the Suns, the combination of bad moves and being stuck in the second apron meant that was always going to be the outcome. Whereas in Houston he gets to be the cherry on top of excellent drafting and roster construction, not the critical piece that the farm was traded away for.