NBA seven-party epic deal, join the Rockets! After leaving the Warriors, you can finally win the championship again

Editor|Old Kankanqiu

NBA free market gate has been opened for three days, and the enthusiasm for crazy trading among the league teams is still high. The Lakers finally won the first pick Ayton, the center Ayton, whom James still has to draw a big question mark if he stays or not. The Warriors management is still trapped in the quagmire of Kumingga's contract renewal, and their old rival Rockets has completed 10 signing transaction operations in succession. The team's lineup has been greatly upgraded, and it has become one of the biggest favorites in the league in the new season and has become the biggest winner so far this offseason.

And the most important and obvious improvement is the deal with the Suns about Durant. According to the latest report by Fred Katz, a famous US media reporter, although the trading framework between the Rockets and the Suns has basically been settled, it has not been officially reached so far. The Rockets management is working hard to expand Durant's trade to a seven-team big deal that sets an NBA record.

Subsequently, Fred Katz followed up to report specific transaction details. Most of the content of the transaction has been determined. The five players involved are: Durant, Dillon, Jaylen Green, Capela and Baldwin; other transactions are determined for draft night draft deals, including seven teams including the Rockets, Suns, Hawks, Nets, Warriors, Lakers and Timberwolves, setting a record for the largest trade in NBA history. The core purpose of multi-team participation is to solve the complex salary matching and integration issues under the labor-capital agreement, so that Durant can successfully put on the Rockets' jersey.

It is worth mentioning that as of now, the most involved teams in NBA history are the deals between the Warriors and Mavericks about Klay Thompson last year, including six teams including the Nuggets, Timberwolves, and the 76ers; and the second place in NBA history is the deals between the Lakers and Wizards about Westbrook, including five teams including the Nets, Spurs, and Pacers.

In addition to winning Durant, the Rockets also won the heavyweight championship puzzles such as Finney Smith and Capela, and successively renewed the core lineups such as Van Vleet, Jabarri Smith Jr., and Adams with a very cost-effective contract. In just two days, the Rockets' management has built a new championship lineup for the Rockets.

According to the current lineup, the Rockets' starting lineup will be lined up with a rare "Five Deaths" lineup: Van Vleet serves as the point guard, defensive player Amen Thompson is the point guard, Durant and Jabbarry Smith Jr. form a double tower in the front line, and Shin Kyung sits in the center of the penalty area. This lineup will have an average height of an astonishing 2.06 meters, with three of them exceeding 2.11 meters and being praised by fans as the "No Flying Zone in Housing City".

The most important thing is that this starting lineup has excellent offense and defense:

✔ Offensive end: Durant averaged 26.6 points, 6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game last season, with a shooting percentage of 52.7%/43%/83.9% in three events, and a true shooting percentage of 64.2%, ranking second in the league, second only to Jokic. His off-ball offense accounted for 58.7% last season, and his catch-and-pull shot rate was 47.2%, perfectly fitting Shen Jing's high-level support and Amen's empty-cut breakthrough. When the opponent double-teams Durant, Van Vleet and Smith Jr. from the outside will get a lot of open three-pointers;

✔ Defensive end: The Rockets ranked second in the league last season (109.8). Now with the addition of Durant and Finney Smith, plus the five major forward teams composed of Amen (2.3 steals per game, 1.8 blocks), Smith Jr. and Ethan, almost every position has unlimited ability to switch defenses. Data shows that Durant restricted his opponent's shooting percentage during matchup last season, which is the second best in the league.

The most important thing is that Durant's joining can solve the biggest pain point of the Rockets last season: the lack of key balls. Data shows that when the game entered a critical moment last season (within 5 points in the last 5 minutes), the Rockets' offensive efficiency plummeted to 91 points in a hundred rounds. They also lost the good game due to improper handling of key balls in the playoffs many times, but they lost to the Warriors in the first round. Durant's career playoff shooting percentage is as high as 58.7%, ranking 9th in the league in scoring at critical moments. His "Death Scythe" is the most critical puzzle for the Rockets to compete for the championship.

In addition, when the transaction was almost completed, Durant had taken the initiative to ask the Rockets management to reduce his salary, give up the 2-year maximum salary of 122 million yuan that could have been signed, and voluntarily accepted a two-year contract of about 110 million yuan. In comparison, he received nearly $14 million less, which also gave the team management more room for operation.

"I have only one goal here - to win the third championship in team history and the third championship in my career!" Durant said in an interview. Behind these words, it is obviously the knot that Durant buried deep in his heart for many years: when he left the Warriors, he chased dream Green's sentence "We are the champion before you come" was always with him. After joining the Nets, Durant experienced the disintegration of the Big Three, witnessed the failure of the Booker Beal combination under the Suns, and even his old club, the Thunder, have won the championship under the leadership of Alexander. Obviously, Durant is still trying to find opportunities to prove that without the Warriors and Curry, he can also lead the team to win the championship.

Now, this opportunity has come again. After leaving Warriors Curry, Durant can finally win the long-awaited championship again!