The James Harden – Houston love affair came to its sour conclusion yesterday as he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a 4-team blockbuster deal that has shaken up the Eastern Conference. The deals comes as a disgruntled James Harden essentially forced his way out of the team with lacklustre performances and off-court shenanigans.
What a trade it was, with moving pieces, loaded teams forming and plenty of future promise, this could go down as one of the wildest trades in NBA history.
Here is how the melee ended up:
Houston Receives:
Victor Oladipo
Rodions Kuruc
Four first round picks (Cavs 2022 via Milwaukee)
4 Nets Pick Swaps
Brooklyn Receives:
James Harden
Indiana Receives:
Caris LeVert
2023 second round pick
Cleveland Receives:
Jarrett Allen
Taurean Prince
This deal may have come as a surprise to some people (including me) who might have thought a package with Philly involving Ben Simmons would put Houston in the best position moving forward. Certainly it seemed a few days ago that this would be the logical trade however it appears the prospect of having to give up Tyrese Maxey deterred the sixers and allowed Brooklyn to get their guy.
On paper this leaves the nets in a dominant position in the Eastern Conference. With Harden and Durant back together and Kyrie potentially joining them (who knows it’s Kyrie) the Nets now have three of the best scorers of our generation. Versatile game winners each that can put a team on their back and make something happen now all on the court at the same time. Based on sheer offensive talent and scoring ability, they have positioned themselves to be surefire contenders for the championship this season.
But at what cost?
The Nets had to give up a lot to pull off this trade. Caris Levert, Taurean Prince and Jarett Allen were all important squad rotational players in their own ways . Without Allen, their poor defence gets worse as Allen has been phenomenal this season, notably posting marquee defensive performances against big men Nikola Jokic and Rudy Gobert. I am a huge fan of the fro. Deandre Jordan, who will be promoted to a starting centre role has not been utilised much at all this season and even received a DNP coach’s decision last game against the Nuggets so it will be interesting to see if he can find some production this season. Then there’s the draft capital, 4 first rounders and four pick swaps is a lot for the Nets to give up and may give Brooklyn fans flashbacks of the 3 unprotected picks they gave up in the Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett trade, picks that would eventually turn into Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Collin Sexton. All franchise players.
But this a whole different situation, bearing in mind Kevin Durant and James Harden have just 2 years left on their respective contracts, the onus is definitely on winning now no matter the cost. Not to mention that, in spite of his inconsistencies this season in a situation where he seemed like he was doing his very best trade me impersonation, James Harden’s output in recent years has been prolific and speaks for itself, leading scoring in each of the past 3 seasons and voted first team all NBA in each of the last 4.
The Nets have officially thrown the kitchen sink at the NBA, and with three players whose combined usage rate sits at over 90% there may be clear gelling pains to start with. However with three generational talents on the roster they could do much worse.
What then for the team that Harden will be vacating. At first glance I saw Houston as potential winners in this trade scenario. They get rid of a toxic presence in the locker room and move Caris Levert to Indiana for Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs and Victor Oladipo who, as recently as 2019 made an NBA all star team as well as an all-defensive first team in 2018. However, Victor Oladipo is not the player he once was, his impact has been dwindling on the court since his quad injury sidelined him for 10 months. Off the court, Victor wants the bag, with free-agency fast approaching, Oladipo has made it clear that he wants max-contract money, a sum that the Rockets may not be willing or able to pay if he doesn’t return to his old self.
The situation doesn’t improve for Houston when you look at their starting five, John Wall, Victor Oladipo, Eric Gordon, PJ Tucker and Christian Wood. Not a bad starting unit by any stretch but hardly a team with any title realistic championship ambitions. The Rockets certainly don’t get better off this trade alone.
Houston have instead gambled on a lack of longevity of the Brooklyn big three, depending on at least a couple of them not signing their respective extensions, otherwise the 4 first rounders they took off Brooklyn could hold little to no value in the coming years. The shear depth of their draft capital does give them the freedom to try and win with their current roster knowing that they have that surplus draft capital, but the success of these draft pieces for Houston will depend on Brooklyn getting bad eventually, although the pick swaps give them some buffer in this regard.
Indiana, a surprise beneficiary of this trade managed to pick up Caris Levert and a 2023 second round pick from Houston in return for shipping Oladipo and I like this trade a lot for Indy. Levert gives them a degree of security being in just the first year of a three year extension and get rid of Victor Oladipo’s 20 million a year contract in the process. Levert will likely start for the Pacers and in spite of not being as good a shooter or defender than Oladipo, his ability to handle the ball, get buckets and act as a primary creator in a team with good floor spacing will be a valuable asset and is perhaps a better fit to the roster than Oladipo. His fitness is an issue, having played in more than 57 games in a season just once in his NBA career, but if he can figure this out he could be a shrewd signing.
The Cavs come in as another surprising component of this trade giving up Dante Exum and their 2022 Milwaukee Bucks pick which is likely to be of little value anyway as the Bucks will be good next season barring a catastrophe involving Giannis (knock on wood). In return they get a potential franchise big man in the aforementioned Jarrett Allen who has been getting it done on both sides of the floor this season. Andre Drummond has been having one of the better seasons of his NBA career but as he approaches the end of his current deal which expires at the end of the season, the Cavs will have to start looking to the future. Jarrett Allen could well be that guy, although they will eventually have to pay him a potentially large sum for his services, Allen’s defensive and offensive proficiency means that there is potentially a future big 3 alongside Sexton and Garland. Taurean Prince will be another good piece who, despite a slow start to the season, has started to figure his game out this season and could provide some decent production off the bench.
An educated answer to the question of who won this mammoth trade is impossible at this point. There are too many variables that remain to be seen and it may take years before we have a concrete answer but one thing is for sure.
It could be one of the most impactful trades of this new era of basketball.
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