Kel’el Ware

Heat Notes: Rozier, Ware, Larsson, Powell

July 16th, 2025 at 4:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Within a larger investigation into Malik Beasley and the Jontay Porter betting scandal, Tom Haberstroh stated during an episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out (YouTube link) that Heat guard Terry Rozier has not yet been cleared by federal investigators as part of their probe into illegal sports betting.

As we relayed last month, ESPN’s Shams Charania seemed to suggest during a segment on The Pat McAfee Show that Rozier had been cleared, but it was a vaguely worded passing remark on a live show rather than a concrete report, so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that it wasn’t quite accurate.

NBA insider Chris Haynes confirmed Haberstroh’s reporting, tweeting that Rozier remains under federal investigation and hasn’t yet been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Rozier continued to play for Miami last season while that investigation was ongoing and remains under contract for one more season. He’ll make about $26.64MM on his expiring deal in 2025/26.

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After responding to Erik Spoelstra‘s criticism with a strong performance in Sunday’s Summer League game vs. Cleveland, Heat big man Kel’el Ware had another impressive outing on Monday vs. Boston, with 21 points and 15 rebounds. “It’s just something that I got to bring every day and like I said, ‘I will,'” Ware said after the game, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “… When I do it, it’s more of a presence that’s being felt out there. I just got to bring it, that’s it. Plain and simple.”
Second-year Heat guard Pelle Larsson left Las Vegas after Monday’s game to join the Swedish national team ahead of next month’s EuroBasket tournament, according to Chiang. Larsson was one of the team’s most effective players in Las Vegas, averaging 18.0 points and 3.7 assists per game while getting some reps as a primary ball-handler. “We were trying to grow his game,” Heat Summer League coach Eric Glass said on Monday. “We want him to still be the defensive stopper and role player on offense, but we gave him the ball and it gave him a much higher usage rate, obviously. It was a good experience for him. There were games when he was really good, games that there’s stuff on film now that we can teach him on things to do. But you can’t duplicate these kinds of reps in games. So we were really happy for that.”
New Heat guard Norman Powell has said he grew up idolizing Dwyane Wade and rooting for the Heat. Wade reciprocated that appreciation by praising Miami’s acquisition of Powell, as Chiang relays in a story for The Herald. “He’s just a great competitor out there on that floor, man,” Wade said of Powell. “That’s what Miami loves, Miami loves competitors and Norman Powell is that. So that’s another step in the direction that you want to see Miami turn to to get this thing right back on track and not go too far away from it. So that’s a good one.”

Southeast Notes: Simpson, Ware, Toppin, Magic Coaches

July 13th, 2025 at 9:58pm CST by Eli Cohen

Hornets guard KJ Simpson is embracing his role as the primary initiator on Charlotte’s Summer League team after missing the event as a rookie a year ago, writes Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. The Hornets’ roster is loaded with guards, and Simpson is aware he needs to become more consistent with his offense if he wants to find a role with the team this season.

“I know I’m a way better shooter and way better efficient scorer than I was during the season,” Simpson said. “Just being more efficient, taking better shots and better decision making, that can always improve.”

Simpson also knows he has to be a pest defensively if he wants to earn his place on the court. One player he’s looking to for inspiration is T.J. McConnell, whose game tape he has been watching for inspiration — that includes the Pacers guard’s tendency to pick up full-court defensively.

“T.J. is a good example that he just goes out there heart over height, and I just want to go out there and prove I can do the same thing at that same level,” Simpson said.

We have more from around the Southeast division:

After being called out by Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra for his lackluster Summer League start and overall approach, second-year big man Kel’el Ware responded in a major way on Sunday evening, writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Ware racked up 21 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks in his fourth Summer League outing while making two of three three-point shots, though Jackson notes that more is still needed in terms of attention to detail on the defensive glass and transition defense. “He’s the coach and he has that trust in me and he wants to see me be the best I can be,” Ware said after the game. “So I took it as motivation.” Summer League coach Eric Glass liked what he saw from Ware. “When he comes in with that focus and that intensity, the rest of his game blossoms,” Glass said. “He has that potential and we want to see him do it again tomorrow.”
Jacob Toppin is hoping to build off a strong start to Summer League with the Hawks, writes Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Toppin’s speed and athleticism with the ball has stood out during his play, and Summer League coach Bryan Bailey has noticed. “Obviously, his size, his length and ability to shoot the ball,” Bailey said. “We even saw (Friday) in the game, just in the fourth quarter, he can push the ball. He can dribble. So we got him as a weapon in transition. Just keep developing those things.” The Hawks have a roster loaded with athletic wings, but Toppin knows what he needs to do to prove himself worth the investment. “On the defensive end, being a menace, being able to guard one of four, keeping guys in front,” he said. “Offensively, being that athletic wing who’s going to run the floor space, make open shots and stuff like that.”
Losing in the first round for a second consecutive season helped convince Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley that additional help was needed, not just on the roster, but on the coaching staff as well, writes Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. That led the team to hire God Shammgod and former Bucks’ assistant Joe Prunty. “What they bring is experience,” Mosley said. “They bring a level of player relationship that they’ve developed over time throughout being in the league all these years. For our staff, they continue that connectivity that we have.” Mosley has worked with both coaches before – Shammgod in Dallas and Prunty in Cleveland – and is excited about what the duo can bring to the team. “Sham, more on the coaching side, being able to dissect some of the offense, the individual movement and plays of guys,” Mosley said. “Joe’s going to be tasked more with the offensive focus, offensive flow of the way in which we’re playing.”

Heat Notes: Ware, Wiggins, Jakucionis, Butler Trade

July 12th, 2025 at 5:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kel’el Ware‘s underwhelming Summer League performance drew a stern reaction from head coach Erik Spoelstra, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Ware took over as the Heat’s starting center midway through last season and earned second-team All-Rookie honors. The organization values him highly enough that he wasn’t included in its offer for Kevin Durant, but there’s disappointment in how he has looked so far this summer.

“A big part of this is he has to really embrace and improve his professionalism, his consistency, his approach every single day,” Spoelstra said. “He has to get better with that. It’s learning how to become a pro. I understand that he was 20 last year and he’s 21. But we have bigger expectations. It’s not your normal growth and growing pains of a young player learning how to become a pro. But that’s what this summer is about. Learning how to become a pro, learning how to be consistent every single day.

“The talent is there. The professionalism and consistency has to improve, and it is. Our standards are not going to change and our expectations and how fast we want that to improve for him are not going to change. But he has to get better at it, he has to take ownership of it.”

Through two games in the California Classic and one in Las Vegas, Ware is averaging 12.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 39.4% from the field and connecting on just 1-of-10 three-point attempts. He posted a team-worst plus-minus rating of minus-21 in Friday’s loss to Atlanta.

Ware acknowledged to Chiang that he needs “to do better with definitely boxing out, a little bit more defensive end and just finishing the ball.”

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Andrew Wiggins has been linked to the Lakers in trade rumors, but Spoelstra considers him to be an important part of the rotation for the upcoming season, Chiang tweets. A source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link) that none of the offers Miami received for Wiggins were tempting. “We got Wiggins to get Wiggins,” the source said, referring to the February trade with Golden State. “He’s a good player. He’s been a big part of winning teams.”
After two rough games in California, Kasparas Jakucionis displayed his potential with 24 points in his Las Vegas debut, Chiang adds in a separate story. However, the No. 20 overall pick was disappointed with other parts of his game on Friday. “Basketball is a lot more than just shooting,” he said. “It felt good, yeah. But eventually we still lost. I didn’t do a great job on the other side like rebounding, getting out on transition defense. So yeah, but I definitely felt better with the shot.”
Five months after sending Jimmy Butler to Golden State, the trade seems more like a win than it did in February, observes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Drafting Jakucionis with the pick they got from the Warriors and using Kyle Anderson, who was also part of the deal, to obtain Norman Powell have helped to balance the scales, according to Winderman.

Heat Notes: Mitchell, Powell, Beal, Lillard, Fontecchio, Ware

July 8th, 2025 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Davion Mitchell, who re-signed with the Heat this week after playing the best basketball of his NBA career following a trade-deadline deal that sent him to Miami, said on Tuesday that the organization is “completely different” from the other NBA teams he has spent time with (Sacramento and Toronto).

“One, coach (Erik Spoelstra) is one of the greatest coaches of all time,” Mitchell said when asked what makes Miami different, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “So just learning from him, just asking questions, you won’t get any better answers from anybody else, I think. And just my teammates, my teammates wanted me here, they embraced me here, they wanted me to be myself. If I can be somewhere and be myself, I know I can be the best player I can be.”

As good as Mitchell was in during his 30 regular season games with Miami, the team struggled during those contests, posting a 10-20 record. He’s optimistic that working together this offseason will help put the Heat in a better position to open the 2025/26 season.

“It’s going to be good for me and the team, just the chemistry that we can build,” Mitchell said. “We won a couple games, we even made it to the playoffs with very little chemistry, especially with injuries and just getting traded here. So we didn’t really know how to jell with one another. I feel like we kind of figured it out a little bit (near the end of the season. But to have a training camp with one another, just to go at each other, just to learn from one another, spend time outside of basketball with each other, I think is going to build a lot of team chemistry.”

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Mitchell is excited about Miami’s addition of Norman Powell, noting that the veteran wing will bring championship experience to the team. “He’s a winning player, he plays both sides of the ball, he can score with the best of them,” Mitchell said. “He kind of does it all. Even if he’s not shooting the ball well, he can disrupt defensively. So you want guys like that on the floor that can help you win like that.”
While the acquisition of Powell makes a Bradley Beal signing a long shot, the Heat are still in play as a possible Damian Lillard landing spot, Chiang writes in another Miami Herald story. However, Chiang believes Miami’s odds would increase if Lillard waits until midway through the season or next offseason to sign his next contract.
New Heat forward Simone Fontecchio, acquired from Detroit in the Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade, is hoping to fill a similar offensive role to the one Robinson played in Miami, according to Chiang. “I watched a lot of Duncan Robinson in the last three years, because I think our skill set is pretty similar,” Fontecchio said. “Of course, he’s a tremendous shooter and he did an amazing job all the years in Miami and I was always kind of looking at him, the way he was getting off shots and I always kind of wanted to do the same thing. I think I can try to play like a little bit off handoffs, running off screens, do a little bit of that.”
Sharing his takeaways from the Heat’s second Summer League game at this week’s California Classic, Chiang writes that the team will want to see more going forward out of second-year center Kel’el Ware, who put up an underwhelming stat line of 12 points (on 4-of-10 shooting) and three rebounds in 28 minutes in Sunday’s loss to the Lakers. As we noted last week, the Heat’s coaching staff had hoped Ware would “dominate” Summer League play ahead of his second NBA season.

Kel’el Ware Looking To Reward Heat For Belief In Him

July 4th, 2025 at 4:59pm CST by Eli Cohen

After an encouraging rookie season with the Heat, Kel’el Ware‘s name popped up in trade speculation this summer in connection with Miami’s pursuit of former Suns star Kevin Durant. Ultimately, the Heat decided to make Ware off limits in any potential deal for Durant, which was believed to be one key reason why Phoenix preferred Houston’s offer to Miami’s.

Ware is now determined to make good on that show of confidence from the team that drafted him, writes Anthony Chiang for the Miami Herald. The soon-to-be second-year center understands the responsibility that comes from such a decision, and is working to put himself in the best possible position to reward Miami’s belief in him.

“It made me feel the Heat wanted me and they want to see how far I can get in the future and see how my development goes,” he said. “That makes me want to show them what I can do and how far I can go. … They see the potential in me and they see what I can be. So my main goal is to just sort of repay that they didn’t make a mistake.”

Ware averaged 9.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game for the Heat as a rookie after being selected with the 15th pick in the 2024 draft. After starting the season as a backup, he eventually moved into the starting lineup alongside longtime star big man Bam Adebayo and made 40 starts for the club between the regular season and playoffs. In that role, he averaged 10.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per night.

He has spent much of his offseason looking to add muscle and continue sharpening his skill set. Coming into the 2025 Summer League, Ware has one goal: to dominate.

“There are specifics that we’re trying to get into him,” said Heat assistant and Summer League head coach Eric Glass. “We always want to see him grow. There are leadership aspects. But he just needs to take the next step. He has all the capability in the world to go out and dominate games and practices, and that’s what we’re looking for from him.”

Ware echoed the sentiment.

“My goals for the offseason and in the summer league is to show that I added more to my game, that I’ve gotten strong in the weight room,” he said. “Just showing that I can be a force out there and be dominant.”

Ware’s Summer League will tip off on Saturday, July 5, at 3:30 pm Central time against the Spurs at this year’s California Classic. If all goes according to plan for him and the Heat, the 21-year-old will quickly become one of the annual “too good for Summer League” players and wrap up his summer well before the Las Vegas Summer League comes to a close later this month.

Heat Rumors: Young Core, Adebayo, Herro, Rozier, Wiggins

July 2nd, 2025 at 4:31pm CST by Luke Adams

It has been a relatively quiet free agency period so far for the Heat, who agreed to re-sign Davion Mitchell on Saturday and worked out a sign-and-trade deal sending Duncan Robinson to Detroit, but haven’t made any veteran roster additions outside of Simone Fontecchio, who will be sent to Miami in that trade with the Pistons.

According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, Miami are content to “let our young guys show what they can do” this fall, with a full training camp together. As Jackson explains, the Heat believe they can’t accurately judge the current group based on last season’s results due to the Jimmy Butler chaos, changing roles, and Andrew Wiggins‘ health issues, among other factors.

The team also believes that its young prospects – Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, Pelle Larsson, and Kasparas Jakucionis – all have a chance to be “really good players,” with some of them set to take on increased roles this season, Jackson writes.

The Heat are remaining open to taking a bigger swing if a star hits the trade market, but would only be aggressive if a player in his prime is available, Jackson continues. That’s why Miami wasn’t willing to go all-in for Kevin Durant, with multiple sources telling the Herald that the team never thought it was close to landing the 36-year-old forward.

Whether or not the Heat have the assets to beat out rival suitors if an in-his-prime star such as Giannis Antetokounmpo is on the trade block is a fair question, Jackson notes.

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Miami haven’t considered the idea of trading Bam Adebayo and/or Tyler Herro in order to launch a rebuild, a source with knowledge of the situation tells the Herald. The Heat believe that tanking fails more often than it works and doesn’t plan to rethink that philosophy, according to Jackson.
The Heat also aren’t weighing the idea of waiving and stretching the final year of Terry Rozier‘s contract, which will pay him $26.6MM this season, Jackson says. Unlike Milwaukee with Damian Lillard, Miami doesn’t need the immediate cap savings, so the plan is to either trade Rozier at some point or simply keep him for next season, Jackson adds.
Although the Heat are entertaining inquiries on Wiggins, there’s no urgency to move him, according to Jackson, who says the club acquired him from Golden State in February because it likes his game, not to use his contract in a subsequent deal. The Heat view him as a player who can complement Adebayo and Herro.
The Heat officially signed undrafted rookie Vladislav Goldin to a two-way contract on Wednesday. Our story on the deal can be found here.

Southeast Notes: Jakucionis, Ware, Newell, White, Richardson, Penda

June 28th, 2025 at 8:24am CST by Earnest Marshall

New Heat guard Kasparas Jakucionis declined to conduct a pre-draft workout for the Heat because he thought he’d be off the board by the time they picked at No. 20, according to the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang. Miami also didn’t think Jakucionis, ranked in the top 10 on several big boards, would be available to them.

“We see tremendous potential with Kas,” Heat vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager Adam Simon said. “You’re talking about a 6-5 [guard] with a plus-three [pointer], good athlete but with a high IQ. So if you combine all those things with a work ethic, there’s no reason why you can’t mold him into a very good NBA player. I think that’s why we were attracted to take him.”

The 6’5″ guard averaged 15.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game in his first and only season at Illinois. He’ll serve as a lead play-maker and help assert Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware as lob threats and roll men. Jakucionis did average 3.7 turnovers per game last year, but the Heat downplayed concerns about that figure.

“Certainly the numbers are higher than you want, but he’s high usage and he’s processing things,” Simon said. “The turnovers were high, certainly. But I think they’re turnovers that you can work with. I think those are correctable, they’re teachable to see the game. But if you just watched all his film, he’s making good reads out there, he’s making plays.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

The Heat are bullish on the future of Ware and this offseason is reflecting that, Chiang writes in another story. Ware was kept essentially off limits in Kevin Durant trade talks, and Jakucionis has the makings of a long-term running mate for the big man. “We’re excited about his growth, we really are,” franchise legend and current Heat executive Alonzo Mourning said of Ware. “This summer I’ve already seen him getting better in his workouts. He doesn’t have to be here, this is his time off. But that kind of speaks volumes that he has kind of blocked out all of the distractions as a kid.“
Former Georgia forward Asa Newell was ecstatic to land with his hometown Hawks in the draft, per Lauren L. Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I knew deep in my heart that I really wanted to go to the Hawks, and hearing about the trades, and me and DQ [Derik Queen] basically got traded for each other, it was pretty cool,” Newell said. “So that’s gonna be a fun matchup, for sure. But it was just like, ‘Wow.’ My heart was beating so fast when the camera came to my table, and I just, I was just so happy, especially getting dropped into a great organization.”
Australian forward Jack White, who previously played 21 games in the NBA with the Nuggets and Grizzlies from 2022-24, will work out for the Hawks and play with them in Summer League, according to ESPN’s Olgun Uluc (Twitter link). Uluc writes that an NBA return for White is a possibility.
The Magic drafted Jase Richardson and Noah Penda, targeting two players they valued for their character, Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel writes in a subscriber-only story. “The exciting part for us as always, as you guys know, we look for the person before the player, and we feel that these two young guys have our Magic DNA,” president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said. “They’re about others and that reflects itself on the court.” According to Beede, Penda was disappointed to not hear his name called in the first round but is excited about landing with the Magic, who traded four seconds to move up to get him.

Trade Rumors: Giannis, K. Murray, Ellis, P. Williams, Heat

June 24th, 2025 at 4:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn’t requested a trade and the Bucks are reportedly focused on improving their roster around him, but teams around the NBA continue to monitor the situation, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who said on First Take (YouTube link) that potential Antetokounmpo suitors are hoping he won’t be thrilled by the moves Milwaukee makes in the coming days and weeks.

“The Bucks have seven free agents. Seven. Three or four of which I would refer to as core players,” Windhorst said (hat tip to RealGM). “The Bucks do not have salary cap space. The Bucks do not control their first-round draft pick for the next five years. They can’t trade it — they can’t trade the pick or the swap. The Bucks are in situation where they cannot count on Dame Lillard for next year. Maybe he can come back, but they cannot count on it. The Bucks are not interested right now in trading Giannis Antetokounmpo. And Giannis, to our knowledge, to my belief, has not asked for a trade. Those are the facts.

“We are also before the draft. We are before free agency. Will the Bucks do some things over the next two, three weeks to put themselves in a position where they can look like they could win the Eastern Conference, with those limitations? Maybe.”

Windhorst’s ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith interjected at that point to say that the Bucks’ odds of reemerging as an Eastern Conference favorite seem “highly unlikely.”

“Right, so that’s why the league is waiting,” Windhorst continued. “People want to know why aren’t the Knicks going all-in for Kevin Durant? Why aren’t the Heat going all-in for Kevin Durant? Because, in part – there’s other reasons, but in part -they want to see what happens here with the Bucks. And we’re going to be watching closely.”

Here are a few more trade rumors from around the NBA:

Checking in on the Kings‘ roster situation and potential trade candidates ahead of the draft, Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee reports that the team wants to add “length and athleticism” in its frontcourt and is hoping to add a power forward/center in order to slide Keegan Murray back to small forward. According to Anderson, Murray and Keon Ellis have been generating “strong” trade interest, but Sacramento isn’t enthusiastic about moving either player.
The Bulls‘ front office has been “more responsive” to trade conversations this offseason than in the past, a source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Cowley suggests that forward Patrick Williams is viewed as a prime candidate for Chicago, though the former No. 4 overall pick – who hasn’t taken a major step forward in recent years – still has four seasons and $72MM left on his current contract, which will make it difficult to move him for positive value without a sweetener attached.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania provided a little more information on what the Heat would’ve have had to give up to get Durant from the Suns, supplementing prior reporting from The Miami Herald. In order to keep Kel’el Ware out of a Durant deal, Miami likely would have had to put Jaime Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, Haywood Highsmith, the No. 20 overall pick, and a pick swap in its package, according to Charania. The Heat’s final offer reportedly fell well short of that.

Heat Notes: Durant Trade Offer, DeRozan, Kuminga, Robinson, Johnson, Smith

June 23rd, 2025 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat weren’t willing to part with rookie center Kel’el Ware, young forward Nikola Jovic or more than one future first-round pick in Kevin Durant trade discussions, a source tells Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Their source says the final offer included Andrew Wiggins, Terry Rozier, two bench players and the No. 20 pick in Wednesday’s draft. Another source tells the authors that Miami was willing to take an unwanted salary from Phoenix, and they note that Marc Stein recently reported that there was interest in Cody Martin.

Jackson and Chiang explain that the Heat are permitted to offer two future first-rounders prior to Wednesday, but would have three available if the trade wasn’t finalized until after the draft is over. Miami wouldn’t consider parting with its picks in 2030 or 2031 to get Durant, and its first-rounders for 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are in limbo due to obligations owed to Charlotte in the Rozier trade.

The authors add that the Suns could have opted for some tax relief by trading for Duncan Robinson and waiving him before July 8, leaving them on the hook for only the $9.9MM guaranteed portion of his 2025/26 salary. However, sources tell them that Phoenix never expressed any interest in Robinson. As we explained last month, Robinson’s partially guaranteed contract was never as valuable a trade chip in a Durant scenario as the Herald’s duo made it out to be.

There’s more from Miami:

Reports have linked the Heat to Kings forward DeMar DeRozan and Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, but neither player has been the focus of trade talks as of Sunday afternoon, Jackson and Chiang add in the same piece. They note that DeRozan, who’s believed to be on the trade market, will make $24.5MM next season, but only has a $10MM guarantee on his $25.7MM salary for 2026/27.
The Heat should have been willing to give up more of their young talent to add a player of Durant’s caliber, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. He argues that Jovic, Jaime Jaquez, Haywood Highsmith and even Ware if necessary should have been sent out to add a star who’s capable of making Miami an instant contender in the East. While Winderman would have been hesitant to part with future draft assets beyond this year’s first-rounder, he believes Miami could have easily topped the package the Rockets are sending to Phoenix in exchange for Durant.
If the Heat can’t trade Robinson, it’s possible that he could decline his $19.9MM option and return on a new deal starting with the $9.9MM he has guaranteed for next season, possibly around $32MM over three years, Winderman suggests in a separate piece. He also examines the possibility of declining a $2MM option on Keshad Johnson and bringing him back on a two-way contact, as well as Miami’s options with Dru Smith, who is eligible for another two-way deal but appeared close to receiving a standard contract before suffering an Achilles injury in December.

Rockets Trading For Suns’ Kevin Durant

June 22nd, 2025 at 12:30pm CST by Rory Maher

The Rockets are acquiring Kevin Durant from the Suns in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in the 2025 draft, and five second-rounders, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.

The Heat were the other finalist for Durant, sources tell Charania.

According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), who reported this morning that Phoenix was “very close” to trading Durant, the second-round selections the Suns will receive are the 59th pick in this year’s draft, two picks in 2026, Boston’s selection in 2030, and Houston’s pick in 2032.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, the blockbuster trade cannot be formally completed until July 6 due to the poison pill provision affecting Green’s rookie scale extension.

Durant, who turns 37 years old in September, has been on the trade block for months after Phoenix nearly sent him to Golden State prior to the February deadline, a move that reportedly fell apart after the former NBA MVP didn’t want to return to the Warriors, especially during the season. Four months later, he’ll be heading to Houston, one of three teams said to be on his wish list, along with San Antonio and Miami.

Although Durant will be entering his 19th NBA season this fall, he continues to perform at an All-NBA level. In 62 games for the Suns this past season, he averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks in 36.5 minutes per game, with an impressive shooting line of .527/.430/.839.

In Durant, Houston now has a star capable of creating his own shot and generating half-court offense, which was an issue for the team during its first-round playoff loss to Golden State this spring. While Green was Houston’s leading scorer during the regular season, he struggled in his first appearance on the postseason stage — he poured in 38 points in Game 2 but failed to score more than 12 points in any of the series’ other six games.

Still, Green is just 23 years old, so he has the potential to continue improving and expanding his game after averaging 20.1 points per contest on .422/.342/.799 shooting in his first four NBA seasons.

According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), although Jabari Smith Jr. was among the young Rockets players the Suns were reportedly interested in, Houston was insistent on only doing a Durant trade if Green was the only member of its young core it gave up.

Phoenix now has a crowded shooting guard depth chart, with Green joining Devin Booker and Bradley Beal on the roster, but Gambadoro tweets that there are no plans to flip Green to another team and that he’ll play alongside Booker in the Suns’ backcourt. There has been an expectation that Beal won’t return to the club next season, though his contract (which includes a no-trade clause) will make him difficult to move.

Besides Green, the Suns are also adding a solid defensive wing in Brooks and a lottery pick in this week’s draft, which will put them in position to add another promising young prospect to their core.

Durant will be on an expiring $54.7MM contract, so the Rockets will likely make an effort to extend his deal beyond 2025/26. As Marks tweets, the star forward will be eligible for a two-year extension worth roughly $122MM as of July 6. If he were to wait six months, his maximum extension would be worth a little more, though the difference would be minimal (approximately $2MM).

Green’s three-year, $105.3MM rookie scale extension will go into effect this July. That deal includes a third-year player option and a 10% trade kicker, though that bonus will likely have to be eliminated or amended in order to make this trade work, Marks notes.

Brooks, who is on a descending contract, is owed about $41.1MM in base salary over the next two seasons, with an additional $2MM in incentives ($1MM per year) for making the first round of the playoffs.

Because Houston achieved that feat this season and Phoenix didn’t, that bonus will change from “likely to be earned” to “unlikely” as a result of the trade, reducing Brooks’ 2025/26 cap hit by $1MM. That will be a key to making the trade legal for the Suns, who can’t take back more salary than they send out as long as they continue to operate over the second tax apron, Marks adds (via Twitter).

According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter links), the Heat improved their offer for Durant in recent days and received consideration from the Suns, but their offer ultimately couldn’t compete with Houston’s. Jackson suggests Miami was unwilling to include multiple first-round picks and young players in its package, while Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link) hears that the Heat’s unwillingness to include center Kel’el Ware was among the sticking points that led to Phoenix going in a different direction.

The Timberwolves were also involved in the Durant sweepstakes, but with no assurances from Durant that he actually wanted to be in Minnesota, they seemingly didn’t get all that close to making a deal, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

The Spurs, Raptors, and Clippers were among the other teams who were said to have interest in Durant before the Suns reached an agreement with the Rockets.

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

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