The Houston Rockets were eliminated from the NBA playoffs at the hands of the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, May 4th.
Ime Udoka’s inexperienced team worked well to bring the Warriors to Game 7, when Buddy Hield’s sensational 33-point performance was different.
The Rockets are now looking forward to the offseason.
Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins believes he has to move to one of Giannis Antetocomo or Kevin Durant.
Rocket has plenty of talented players and draft capital, making it easy to trade with almost every player in the NBA.
Many hope that the Bucks will rule out Milwaukee after the Bucks lost to the Indiana Pacers in five games and Damian Lillard suffers an injury to Achilles.
Durant could be on a new team next season as the Phoenix Suns experiments with Devin Booker and Bradley Beale failed.
Perkins chose to pick all the superstars to help the Rockets level up as contenders for the 2026 NBA Championship.
“They need to be closer. I tried to protect Jalen Green, which means he has a bright future, but he doesn’t have to be with Rocket. They have a lot of fascinating pieces.
“If I’m the Rockets, I need to tackle a closer issue with shooting issues. I’ll chase after Kevin Durant. Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore, Jabari Smith JR, package the draft picks, go out and get KD.
“Not Giannis, Kevin Durant, and you pair him with Amen Thompson (Alperen) Senn and Fred Vanvleet. You have Stephen Adams.
“They didn’t have enough offensive firepower tonight, especially when the Warriors were locked up in Fred Vanvleet, who had worked with them after the last three games.”
Durant quickly transformed the Rocket into a major contender for the Western Conference as he solved his biggest problem.
Udoka’s teams are defensively good, so they stay in the game, but they often lack the offensive firepower to get over the line.
Durant is clearly one of the best scorers in NBA history, and even at 36 years old, he can score 25 points per game.
But his age is important. Because he hasn’t been at this level for a long time. At best, he will become an All-Star caliber player for another two or three seasons.
So the Rockets must be careful not to give up much in their trade with Phoenix. A few younger players like Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr and Reed Sheppard should be more than enough.