Every year, every offseason, there is a sizable number of Los Angeles Lakers fans who seem to essentially give up on the upcoming season, not so much because the Lakers may have an underwhelming roster, but because of the competition.
Those fans will always utter the following words in some form: “The Western Conference is brutal.”
On Sunday, hours before the start of Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, the West seemed to get tougher. The Phoenix Suns agreed to trade future Hall of Fame forward Kevin Durant, and he’s going to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 overall pick in this year’s draft and five second-round picks.
It’s hardly a big haul for Phoenix, and at first glance, one may feel the Rockets, who finished second in the West during the regular season, will now soar into the stratosphere.
But a closer look at their roster reveals that they likely won’t be as mighty as some may fear.
They could very well be mostly a two-horse gang. Center Alperen Sengun has emerged as a star and averaged 19.1 points and 10.3 rebounds a game this season, but he may never become a huge scoring threat. Amen Thompson, a 22-year-old forward who was the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft, is a fine player, but he may not ever evolve into a true star.
Veteran point guard Fred VanVleet is a fine player and made the All-Star team three years ago. But he shot just 37.8% from the field this season and has made over 42% of his field-goal attempts for an entire season just once.
In other words, the Rockets will be a good team, and perhaps a very good one. But it is not easy to imagine them being a true championship contender, at least not right now.
Then there is the matter of how Durant’s last two teams had even more talent than Houston will have next season but failed to even reach the conference finals. When he joined the Brooklyn Nets, they were supposed to become the NBA’s next true “super team.” But in two and a half seasons with him, they won a grand total of one playoff series.
The Suns were supposed to become instant championship contenders when he joined them in February 2023. But they, too, have won just one playoff series since, and they didn’t even make the playoffs this year.
The new-look Rockets could very well become the latest Durant-led disappointment, and the Lakers should have a real chance of assembling a superior team this summer.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers fans shouldn’t fret about Kevin Durant going to the Rockets
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
