The bomb that the entire NBA world was waiting to explode finally detonated on Wednesday, when the Brooklyn Nets acquired James Harden from the Houston Rockets in a seven-player, four-team deal that dramatically changes the league’s landscape. Harden joins Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, while the Rockets date Victor Oladipo from Indiana Pacers and a lot of future Nets picks in the first round.
This deal has far-reaching spreading effects because of the number of players involved and the magnitude of Harden’s franchise-changing ability. Here is a look at some of the winners and losers of the Harden trade, but first let’s look at the details:
- Rockets obtain: Victor Oladipo, Rodions Kurucs, Dante Exum, four unprotected choices in the first round (Brooklyn 2022, 2024 and 2026, Milwaukee 2022) and four unprotected choices in the first round (2021, 2023, 2025, 2027).
- Networks get: James Harden
- Pacers get: Caris LeVert, choice of the second round of 2023 (from Houston)
- Cavaliers obtain: Jarrett Allen, bullfighting prince
Winner: James Harden
Disagree with your tactics as much as you like, but James Harden got what he wanted. He’s on his way to Brooklyn to play with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in what is supposed to be the Eastern Conference favorite. Brooklyn was Harden’s first reported favorite destination, so he is unlikely to regret the way he handled the start of the season in Houston. It will be intriguing to see how Harden adapts his offensive style to suit Durant, Irving and the Nets, but with three of the league’s top scorers on a team, the Nets will be a must-see game in the near future.
Winner: Brooklyn Nets
The Nets now have three top-20 players in the same squad, which makes them even more contenders for the title than they already were. It really is that simple. The depth took a hit, but Steve Nash will tweak the speeds to make something work and, as our James Herbert detailed, the front office still has options to improve the list. If the Nets remain healthy, they could have the best attack in NBA history (this seems hyperbolic, but the Dallas Mavericks did it last season with much less star power). According to SportsLine, Brooklyn’s chances of winning the 2020-21 title almost doubled with the acquisition of Harden. This makes you a winner every day of the week.
The Sixers were reportedly in an arms race with the Nets for Harden, and they ended up losing. Not only does this mean that they will miss the addition of Harden to a team that jumped to a 7-1 start before the list was exhausted by health and safety protocols, but they also now have to rely on Durant-Harden-Irving Nets in the Eastern Conference playoffs. There is the additional problem that Ben Simmons certainly knows now that he has been made available in negotiations, which could hinder a 76ers team that has experienced notable chemistry problems in the past.
Winner / loser: Steve Nash
On the one hand, Nash may end up winning a title in his first year as a head coach. On the other hand, he will have to carefully navigate the strong and unique personalities of Harden, Durant and Irving this season and beyond. It will be interesting to see how things will look after their first long losing streak. Good luck my friend.
Winner: Houston Rockets
The Rockets would probably be considered a winner just for taking Harden out of town so that they could finally focus on basketball, but they also achieved a legitimate achievement for their All-NBA guard. Our Sam Quinn assessed them quite severely, suggesting that they should have pulled the trigger for Simmons, but the Rockets carried into the future essentially all of the first-round choices that the Nets could negotiate, putting them in a position similar to that of the New Orleans pelicans. and Oklahoma City Thunder in terms of future assets.
They also acquired Victor Oladipo, who has been away from an All-Star season for two years and is expected to help them in the short term. He is a free agent after this season, but you have to think that the Rockets intend to hire him or else they would have just taken LeVert as an asset. John Wall, Victor Oladipo, Christian Wood and DeMarcus Cousins should be sufficient to at least remain competitive this season, so Houston can reevaluate its direction at a later time.
You can choose whether the Philadelphia package would put the Rockets in a better position, but there is no denying that they are in an infinitely better position than they were a few days ago, which makes them winners.
Loser: City of Houston
Houston fans are delighted with one of the most advanced and successful NBA franchises since Harden arrived before the 2012-13 season. The Rockets must still be competitive, but the days of the season’s more than 55 wins will likely be seen in the rear view mirror for a while. Depending on how the front office proceeds, Rockets may even have a complete reconstruction on their hands in a few seasons. Houston fans have loyally embraced their franchise while drawing the ire of many around the world, so it’s a shame to see your moment in the spotlight potentially coming to an end.
Winner: Cleveland Cavaliers
Cavs made some sneaky good moves this offseason, and they got another one by inserting themselves into this business and hanging out with Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince in the process. Allen was having a breakout season for the Nets, averaging career records on points (11.2), rebounds (10.4) and blocks (1.6), and all of Cleveland gave up on the deal was Dante Exum, who averaged less than four points in 19 minutes per game. With Andre Drummond as a free agent this offseason, they can move on with a young core from Allen, Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro. Not bad for a rebuilding franchise.
Loser: Prince Taurine
Although he left something to be desired, Prince was at least playing a significant role in a team with NBA championship hopes. Now he will join the Cavaliers, who are likely to be out of the hunt for the playoffs for most of the season. Over time, Cavs will want to give as many minutes as possible to develop young players, which means that Prince may find himself accumulating DNP-CDs for a good part of the season. No one will feel sorry for a guy who makes $ 13 million a year, but it is certainly not an ideal situation for Prince.
Winner: Indiana Pacers
Like the Cavs, the Pacers were an unexpected part of this business and ended up getting Caris LeVert and a second round choice for Oladipo, who has apparently been somewhat unhappy in Indiana. Particularly with the appearance of Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis in recent seasons, Oladipo’s days in Indiana seemed numbered, so it was wise for them to get a quality player like LeVert, signed until 2023, instead of risking Oladipo leaving for free in this agency off-season.
Winner: Caris LeVert
Even Steve Nash admitted that LeVert is an NBA winger of the initial caliber, but he was relegated to a bank role due to the presence of Irving and Durant on the Nets first team. He won’t have to worry about it in Indiana, where he will join the starting lineup immediately and see all the opportunities he can handle, especially with TJ Warren out indefinitely after foot surgery. The Pacers may not be the candidate for the title that the Nets were, but they started very well this season and should fight for one of the top four in the East.
The prohibitive favorite to win the Eastern Conference entering the season, the Bucks has seen its attempt to switch to Bogdan Bogdanovic fail, and now its main competition has added a perennial MVP candidate. Milwaukee probably has nothing to worry about in the regular season and may even finish top of the list for the third consecutive season, but if they find themselves in a showdown with the Nets in the postseason, they’ll have their hands full.
Winner: Oklahoma City Thunder
Since OKC has so many future choices, virtually all negotiations will affect them in some way. In this case, Thunder has the right to exchange its first round choice of 2021 or the first round choice of the Heat for the first round of the Rockets. That choice of Houston got much more succulent with the team’s total wins probably decreasing with Harden’s departure. Miami has a slow start, but chances are they will end up with a better record than Houston, which means Oklahoma City is looking at another potential lottery choice in a 2021 draft class.
Winner: business demands
With Anthony Davis winning a title with the Lakers in the summer and now Harden forcing his way to his favorite destination, superstar players can see this as a plan to get out of an undesirable situation (cc: Bradley Beal). Harden was able to leverage the situation despite having two more years left on his contract, opening the door to even earlier star demands in the future. The so-called NBA player empowerment era is in full swing.