Kevin Durant said he envisions himself signing a contract extension with the Rockets and described how a bond and respect level with coach Ime Udoka led him to engineer a trade to bring him to Houston. Durant is in the final year of a contract that will pay him $55 million and is eligible to sign a new deal. There was some belief that Durant would work out a contract extension with the Rockets as a part of Houston's deal with the Suns.
The Houston Rockets have one of the league's most dynamic young cores - led by Alperen Sengun and two-way star Amen Thompson - buoying them to the No. 2 seed in the West last year. However, they lost a rock fight in the first round against Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors. Despite sporting a top-5 defense, the Rockets were a bottom-nine halfcourt offense with the eighth-worst effective field goal percentage and seventh-worst true-shooting percentage. They needed at least one other creator.
"We had this conversation in Portland I think right before a game, and I'm like, 'Who am I spending my next five years with?'" said Durant. "I had just signed that deal, you had just signed a deal. It felt like we were secure, but everything else around us was going to s-t."
If the Grizzlies continue to pivot, the Knicks will call about Jaren Jackson Jr. League sources tell @ClutchPoints that at least one key member of the Knicks' front office has long coveted Jackson Jr. as a trade target.