Worrying Kevin Durant trade chatter won't go away despite strong start

The Phoenix Suns have started this young season 2-1, which has led to some early overreactions around these parts to what we've seen so far. The group certainly look better and more cohesive than last time out, but it is too early to tell if that alone can make the ending any different once the playoffs begin.

Kevin Durant has been at his best in the early goings, the 36-year-old getting straight back into the 30 points per night groove. You could argue he perhaps isn't as polished as in years gone by - but given he's also been the Suns' best player in the early goings - any drop-off has been minimal at most.

Which is why trade chatter annoyingly continues to persist with Durant.

Quite why this is happening is unclear at this point, the season has now begun and Durant gets to ball with his good friend Devin Booker in The Valley. A superstar teammate he won Olympic gold with this summer, while even Bradley Beal looks better than he did for much of last season.

Marc Stein however, has taken to his always popular "Stein Line" substack to proclaim that interest from the Houston Rockets still exists. If you cast your mind back to around the NBA Draft, the Rockets engaged in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets which essentially netted them some of the Sun's picks that they themselves gave up in the Durant deal. As Stein puts it;

"Rumbles regarding the Rockets' ongoing interest in Durant nonetheless persist and are unlikely to fade as long as Durant's pal Ime Udoka is Houston's coach and an even closer friend (Royal Ivey) remains on Udoka's staff." We'll leave it to Durant to let you know how likely this should all feel at this point, just in case you're panicking.

Stein does go on to mention that Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat is another name to monitor with Houston - and while baselessly linking players to other teams happens all the time - it does seem strange that this is a topic Stein has returned to now that the season has begun.

He wouldn't risk hurting his professional name by putting the Rockets and Durant together on multiple occasions, and so it is fair to assume there is some smoke here. The timing remains strange though - because if there's one team between the Suns and Rockets who can contend this coming season - it is not the organization that calls Texas home.

The Rockets do have among the best collections of young talent in the league today - and when combined with owning some of the Suns' picks - could certainly make probably the best deal in the league. They'd also have enough left over to give Durant a new contract (which ends after next season), and also surround him with young talent with a ton of upside.

But the payoff for that would be years from now, and time is a luxury Durant does not have at this point. As a player who seems obsessed with narrative, the idea of getting paid to play out the remainder of his days in Houston and not come close to winning a championship again seems... unlikely.

The only way to make this noise go away is to win. Owner Mat Ishbia already gave his "Phoenix loves Kevin Durant, and Kevin Durant loves Phoenix" speech when these rumors first started picking up steam in the offseason. But if he sees an escape hatch from this course he charted when he added Durant and then doubled-down with Beal, then this is definitely it.

Imagine having Booker, Beal and a host of picks and young players to take a step back before setting yourself up for potential greater success down the road. The front office have nailed their last three draft picks, which has flown under the radar. Then again when you have one of the 20 best players of all-time, don't you just roll the dice and live with the results?