For months, James Harden has been clear that he would like to be moved from the Houston Rockets. After a couple weeks of negotiating with the Nets, a deal was agreed upon Wednesday afternoon.
Harden going as far as to holding out on playing games or attending practices early in the season to “train privately” had caused an even bigger discourse between Houston and Harden.
Although Houston had been mutual in finding a suitor to take Harden, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, had other plans. Feritta was persistent in taking multiple draft picks from a team.
He seemed intrigued by Brooklyn, seeing as Feritta had the chance to grab one of the Net’s new stars in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
Harden preferred his destination be either the Philadelphia 76ers or the Brooklyn Nets, who are both contenders to win the Eastern Conference.
The superstar point guard who averaged 34.3 points per game in his 2019-2020 campaign will be teaming up with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant on the Brooklyn Nets.
Nets and Rockets required help from two other NBA teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers.
The Rockets will be receiving superstar shooting guard Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, and Radians Kurus, including four first rounders in the 2022, 2024, and 2026 NBA draft along with four first round pick swaps in 2021, 2023, 2025, and 2027.
While the Pacers get a shooting guard in Caris Lavert and a second rounder, the Cavaliers receive center Jarrett Allen and small forward Taurean Prince.
The Nets are essentially giving away their future for a another great isolation player and one of the league’s premier scorers.
The interesting thing to note about the move is the fact that the Nets now have three ball dominant players and will all play in the starting rotation.
In the recent past, this roster has proved rather effective. Kevin Durant had signed with the Golden State Warriors in 2016 with an already loaded team including two other ball dominant players in former unanimous MVP Stephen Curry and lights out shooter Klay Thompson.
Many questioned how they would work together and distribute scoring, but ultimately, the Warriors ended up winning the NBA championship and Durant finished both Finals winning Finals MVP back to back in his first two years with the team.
The Nets will also have to wait for the return of Kyrie Irving, as he has not suited up for a game since Jan. 7 due to personal reasons.
Video recently surfaced of him at a family party without a mask on and the League is reviewing it along with what kind of consequences Irving could face as COVID-19 cases in the NBA have already appeared. Some games have been postponed while the season continues to played as a non-bubbled season.
The league is trying to contain the virus, even going as far as to require players exposed or those who break protocol to test negative multiple times before returning to their respected teams.
James Harden will look to come in and warm up the PG spot until Irving resumes playing.
Nets currently sit two games from first place in the teams first 12 games of action. James Harden and the new-look Nets will continue to aim for a trip to compete for the NBA Championship with their star studded unit.
