On the day that two teams who were patient and calculating in building their cores to the level where they would face off in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the Houston Rockets went all-in on accelerating their timeline.

After weeks of negotiations, Phoenix has agreed to trade Durant to Houston, giving it the needed scorer in its half-court offense that was clearly lacking in their first-round exit at the hands of the Warriors. The Suns got back a couple of quality players and a first-round pick — not near what they traded away to get Durant, but not a bad haul in return, considering the market.

Who won and who lost in all this? Let’s break it down, starting with the details of the trade itself (which can’t officially be completed until July 6 because of Jalen Green’s extension):

Houston receives: Kevin Durant
Phoenix receives: Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, five second-round picks

Winner: Kevin Durant

How much Durant was planning an exit from Phoenix before the Suns started dangling him at the trade deadline (and almost trading him to the Warriors) is up for debate, but after that there was no question what was going to happen this summer.

What Durant wanted was to control the process. He wanted to get to a team that would offer him a two-year contract extension north of $100 million, and where he could contend.

Check and check.

Durant fills a specific need for the Rockets as a half-court scorer (more below on that), and the Rockets are expected to pony up and pay the man.

Just a reminder that in the NBA, the biggest stars almost always get what they want.

Winner: Houston Rockets

Houston knew what it needed to contend now.

The Rockets were the 52-win No. 2 seed in the West last season, a team built on a quality young, athletic core playing pressure defense — just like the two teams playing in the Finals — but they lacked scoring punch in the half court (Houston was 22nd in the league in half court offense). During the regular season they covered this up with defense, transition opportunities, and offensive rebounds from Steven Adams (who just got his contract extended). However, in the playoffs against an experienced and talented Warriors team, the Rockets were forced to play in the half court and couldn’t score enough to win.

Kevin Durant improves the Rockets’ half-court offense immensely. The man may be 37 next season, but he is still a walking bucket who averaged 26.6 points a game last season and shot 43% from beyond the arc.

Having to trade away Brooks dings the Rockets’ defense a little, and now more falls on the shoulders of Amen Thompson defensively. Still, it should not be a dramatic drop-off. Additionally, the fact that the Rockets held onto young players with potential, such as Reed Sheppard and Cam Whitmore, is a win.

However, there is risk here for the Rockets, particularly in the long term. The two teams playing in Game 7 of the NBA Finals chose to be patient with their depth, letting it grow and coalesce, rather than making the kind of trade that would rapidly accelerate their timeline (trades for Pascal Siakam or Alex Caruso were about filling in gaps, not bringing in a superstar). Houston went the opposite direction — was this at the urging of owner Tilman Fertitta? — and if Durant is healthy and meshes, then this move looks brilliant. If injuries, age or other issues lead to a bumpy road, then Houston has pushed all in and not won the hand.

There are some hard financial decisions ahead for this team after they extend Durant, especially once Thompson’s second contract kicks in for the 2027-28 season. However, those are problems the Rockets can worry about later. Right now, they can focus on winning a ring.

Loser: Game 7 of the NBA Finals

One of Adam Silver’s missions has been to refocus the NBA on the court, rather than on the transaction wire. The reason is obvious: The league knows how to monetize games, it makes nothing from a social media debate about a trade.

The Durant trade was the biggest sports news of the day and dominated the discussion of what should be a thrilling Game 7, focusing the sports world on Durant and his fit in Phoenix.

There will still be plenty of talk about the game, but I guarantee you this: The story you are reading now will draw far more eyeballs than the stories later tonight out of Game 7, regardless of what happens.

What can the NBA do about this? Nothing, really. The league could put a moratorium on moves before the Finals end, but teams will already be talking anyway (this trade can’t be finalized until July 6 and we’re talking about it). The league could try to space out the time between the Finals and the NBA draft, but that would mean either going deeper into the summer for teams (pushing back events like Summer League) or reducing the number of regular-season games, which is a dead-on-arrival discussion right now.

Just don’t think the league is happy about the timing of this trade.

Winner (relatively): Phoenix Suns

Listening to Phoenix owner Mat Ishbia speak, there was legitimate concern that the Suns might try to trade Durant for other win-now players rather than taking a step back, retooling the roster, and thinking longer term. This trade was a longer-term move, acquiring a young player in Green and the No. 10 pick, as well as all those future second-round picks.

This was not the haul the Suns had to give up to get Durant (Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and four first-round picks), but considering KD’s current market, this was as good as they were going to do. This is a win for the Suns, but more of a solid double in the gap than a home run.

There is still a lot of roster work to do in Phoenix: Booker, Beal, Green, Brooks, and Grayson Allen are all 2/3 wings, now a crowded position in Phoenix. There are more trades and roster tweaks to come. But this deal was about as good as they were going to do.

Loser: Miami Heat

Miami isn’t much of a loser here. Today, they stand exactly where they did yesterday, still at a crossroads with a roster that is neither good enough to contend nor bad enough to tank.

The fact that they are still standing at that crossroads is why they slip slightly into the loser category — but if I were standing in Pat Riley’s Italian loafers, I would have made the same call. The reported sticking point in talks was the inclusion of promising young center Kel’el Ware — the Rockets wanted him, the Heat would not give him up. While it’s easy to question not giving up a rookie who played 22 minutes a night for Kevin “freakin” Durant, the reality is that’s trading a promising 21-year-old for a 37-year-old with an injury history is bad business. Miami rightfully thought that wasn’t worth the risk.

Still, without Durant, the question remains in Miami: What’s the plan?

NEW YORK — Baltimore Orioles backup catcher Maverick Handley left Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the New York Yankees after being knocked over in a collision at the plate with Jazz Chisholm Jr.

“He got hit pretty hard,” Orioles manager Tony Mansolino was quoted as saying by the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. “We haven’t seen a collision like that at the plate, probably, since all the new rules came in. So we’re evaluating him right now, full body, every part of it. We’ll have more information tomorrow. … We’re evaluating everything right now, so nothing official on concussion protocol. There’s obviously a chance that that happens. We’ll have more information tomorrow on him.”

With Baltimore ahead 2-0 in the second, Chisholm hit a two-out double off Dean Kremer and went home on DJ LeMahieu’s single to left.

Colton Cowser’s throw was up the third-base line. Handley moved to his left for the throw, arriving for the ball at the same time as Chisholm, who tried to veer to the inside to avoid contact.

Chisholm, whose left cleat had come off as he speeded down the line, caught Handley with his right arm, fell past the plate and had to come back to touch it.

Handley, a 27-year-old who debuted in April, got up slowly and was removed after a discussion with Masolino and head athletic trainer Scott Barringer. Baltimore replaced Handley with former Yankees player Gary Sánchez.

Baltimore already is without All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, who strained his left oblique and is on the injured list for the first time in his major league career.

After San Francisco All-Star catcher Buster Posey sustained a season-ending leg injury in May 2011, Major League Baseball ahead of the 2014 season adopted a rule preventing catchers from blocking a runner’s direct path to the plate without the ball.

CHICAGO — Seattle Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 31st homer when he went deep in the first inning of Sunday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

Raleigh hammered the first pitch of his at-bat against Colin Rea — a 93.8 mph fastball — for a two-run shot on a hot afternoon at Wrigley Field. The massive drive to center had an exit velocity of 105 mph.

It was Raleigh’s fourth homer of the weekend series and his fifth in his last five games. He snapped a tie for third for the most homers in franchise history before the All-Star break.

The switch-hitting Raleigh was the designated hitter for the Mariners for the series finale after he was behind the plate on Saturday.

Raleigh also walked in the third and singled and scored in the fifth.

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani pitched one hitless inning Sunday in his second mound start for the Los Angeles Dodgers, striking out two and allowing just one baserunner on an error by Mookie Betts.

Ohtani threw 18 pitches against the Washington Nationals at Chavez Ravine, recording 12 strikes with one wild pitch. After leadoff hitter CJ Abrams grounded out, Betts dropped James Wood’s popup in the sun, but Ohtani struck out Luis García Jr. and Nathaniel Lowe to end it.

Ohtani then struck out on seven pitches as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter against Washington’s Michael Soroka in the bottom half of the first.

Ben Casparius replaced Ohtani in the second inning for the Dodgers, who likely saw what they hoped to see from their two-way superstar.

Ohtani’s fastball topped out at 98.8 mph after hitting 100 in his first outing, and he finished both of his strikeouts with breaking balls.

Ohtani yielded two hits and a run while throwing 28 pitches in the first inning Monday against San Diego in his first mound outing since 2023.

Before Ohtani faced Washington, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said there’s no firm timeline for the right-hander to extend his starts to full length. The Dodgers also have made no long-term decisions about how they will handle the day-to-day details of the dual pursuits of baseball’s only serious two-way player in several decades.

Roberts acknowledged that Ohtani could move out of his customary leadoff spot in the Dodgers’ lineup on the days when he pitches, particularly at home. While Ohtani has told Roberts he isn’t bothered by pitching the first inning and then going straight to the on-deck circle to be the Dodgers’ first batter in the bottom half, Roberts recognizes it’s not ideal.

“He’s said that he’s completely fine with hitting leadoff (and) doesn’t want to change,” Roberts said. “So I think that for now, we’ll stay status quo, but coming out of this one, you could say maybe it might make more sense to hit second or third or fourth.”

Ohtani went just 4 for 23 with 11 strikeouts at the plate in the Dodgers’ previous six games before Sunday, and that includes his two-hit performance last Monday during his mound return. He had homered in just one of his past 18 games, although he still entered Sunday tied for third in the majors with 25 homers.

The Dodgers will be patient with Ohtani as he readjusts to two-way life while managing the demands of both jobs.

“I have not seen signs of fatigue,” Roberts said. “I think that like all hitters, when you start chasing outside the strike zone, it’s hard to have consistent success. I don’t think that’s a fatigue thing, but we’ll manage it, and I think that I can only take him at his word, and the swing speed and stuff you track is still in line. Again, once we ramp up more, it might be a different conversation.”

Ohtani didn’t pitch at all last season while recovering from arm surgery during his first season with the Dodgers under a 10-year, $700 million contract. He won his third MVP award while becoming the first player in baseball history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season, and the Dodgers won his first World Series championship.

Ohtani entered Sunday third in the majors with a .996 OPS, but some of his other offensive numbers have gone down slightly this season while he returned to a steady throwing program.

The Dodgers have no public concerns about Ohtani’s production, remaining supportive of his two-way play — and they need his arm, given their season-long injury woes on the mound.

PHILADELPHIA — Scuffling catcher Francisco Alvarez was demoted to the minors by the New York Mets on Sunday.

The team optioned Alvarez to Triple-A Syracuse and recalled Hayden Senger from its top farm club before Sunday night’s series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Senger will back up Luis Torrens, who replaces Alvarez as New York’s primary catcher.

The move comes after Alvarez went 2 for 5 with a 452-foot home run late in Saturday night’s 11-4 victory over Philadelphia, which snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Mets. But he is batting only .236 with three homers, three doubles, 11 RBIs and a .652 OPS in 35 games this year.

Alvarez was activated April 25 after beginning the season on the injured list with a hamate fracture in his left hand, and he missed two games this month while on the paternity list.

The 23-year-old Alvarez, once rated baseball’s best minor league prospect, had 25 homers and 63 RBIs with a .721 OPS as a rookie in 2023.

Senger, 28, made his major league debut for the Mets this season and was batting .179 (5 for 28) in 13 big league games.

New York began the day tied with Philadelphia atop the NL East.