Rockets trade James Harden to Nets in NBA blockbuster
As part of a blockbuster four-team trade involving the Rockets, Cavaliers and Pacers, the Nets landed the reigning three-time scoring champion — and they didn’t even have to part with All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving to do it.
In the huge deal, which has been confirmed by The Post, the Nets surrendered four players and one of the biggest hauls of draft picks in league history, which surely will make this move general manager Sean Marks’ long-term legacy.
The Nets sent three first-round picks (2022, 2024 and 2026) and four more first-round pick swaps ( 2021, 2023, 2025 and 2027) to the Rockets, along with Rodions Kurucs. Caris LeVert went to the Pacers, while Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince were shipped to the Cavaliers. The Rockets also ended up with Victor Oladipo from Indiana and Dante Exum from Cleveland.
But the prize is Harden. In the NBA, the team that gets the best player in a trade almost always wins the deal, almost without exception. The Nets are banking on not being that exception — and that their newly formed Big 3 of Harden, Kevin Durant and Irving (assuming he returns this season) can deliver a title.
This deal had long been in the works, with rumblings over the summer after former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Durant and Harden spoke about a reunion while they were working out in Los Angeles.
“I don’t know where you making this stories up, [that] me and James talked in workouts. James is a friend of mine. … I heard all the noise. … Anybody can make up stories, and write stories and it gets traction,” Durant said at the time, trying to defuse reports of the deal, which finally was consummated on Wednesday.
“We’re all professionals. We just go about our days, do [our work] and go home. Whatever happens, [happens].”
What happened was the Nets landed the superstar Durant wanted to play with. And it wasn’t easy.
Sources told The Post that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta had shown no interest in the players the Nets were offering. But the specter of the trade hung over both teams, with a disgruntled Harden trying to force his way out of Houston and Nets players such as Allen, LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie (out with a torn ACL) hearing their names mentioned in rumored trade talks for months.
“You see everything what’s going on, I’m aware of it,” Allen acknowledged last month. “I try to put it aside. It’s big decisions, deciding where I’m playing; I put it all aside. Happy about it, not happy about it, it’s all basketball.”
While Fertita wasn’t enamored of the players Brooklyn had to offer, the teams eventually looped Cleveland and Indiana in. And in the wake of Harden’s comments Tuesday night, Houston finally had incentive to get the deal done.
“We’re just not good enough,” Harden said after his Rockets suffered a blowout loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night. “Chemistry, talent-wise, everything. And it was clear the last few games. From the beginning of the game, they’re just a veteran team obviously, championship team, and one of the best teams we have in this league.
“I love this city. I literally have done everything that I can. I mean, this situation is crazy. It’s something that I don’t think can be fixed.”
It remains to be seen if this deal leaves the Nets fixed. There is risk.
While many Nets fans would shiver at the mere mention of former Nets GM Billy King’s ill-advised and ill-fated trade with Boston, this situation is entirely different from the gamble that brought Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from the Celtics to Brooklyn. Garnett was 37 years old, Pirece 35, both were past their primes and neither was All-Star caliber anymore.
Harden, 31, is coming off three straight scoring titles, giving him and Durant a combined total of seven. The Nets’ Big 3 has a combined two dozen All-Star nods.
And though Harden came into camp overweight and is coming off arguably the worst five-game stretch of his career, there is a belief in NBA circles that, paired with Durant and playing for a contender, he will be motivated and show up.
The Nets have three open roster spots, their $5.7 million taxpayer Mid Level Exception and — in all likelihood — a Disabled Player Exception worth $5.7 million. They also received a 2024 second-round pick from Cleveland, according to ESPN.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/13/james-harden-traded-to-nets-by-rockets-in-nba-blockbuster/
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