Breaking: NBA shakeup! Harden traded to Nets, will play alongside Durant, Irving

In a four-team deal, Brooklyn just added a third superstar

Jan 13, 2021

After doing everything in his power to force his way out of the Houston Rockets, James Harden is the latest NBA player to arm bar his own team into trading away their superstar.

It’s a little complicated, but at this point, the trade appears to have four teams involved.

The deal:

Shams Charania @ShamsCharania

Sources: Full current trade: Rockets: Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, 3 BKN first-rounders (22, 24, 26), 1 MIL first (22, unprotected), 4 BKN 1st round swaps (21, 23, 25, 27) Nets: James Harden Pacers: Caris LeVert, 2nd-rounder Cavs: Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince

While this isn’t technically “Warriors news,” the destruction of the James Harden Rockets is finally complete. One of the toughest teams to ever go up against the Golden State Warriors dynasty, the Rockets came close on more than one occasion, but could never get past a superior Warriors squad.

Shane Young @YoungNBA

James Harden's Rockets tenure: 29.6 points 6.0 rebounds 7.7 assists 51.2% on 2's 36.2% on 3's 86.2% at the line 61.2% true shooting 33.3% usage Two West Finals appearances, both losses to Golden State. In his 8 full seasons, the Rockets were eliminated by the Warriors 4 times

Now, the focus will pivot to the newly minted superteam in Brooklyn. Will this be enough to pull Kyrie Irving back from the siren call of doing his own thing? The Nets added enough top flight talent to batter their way into the Finals, but this was a costly trade - sending out the team’s point guard and center of the future, as well as mortgaging every draft pick asset for immediate title chasing.

As Warriors fans have noticed, while the little edge details may seem unimportant, the Nets will have to reinvent themselves on the fly, and won’t have any draft assets to plug the new roster holes with. As Tim Bontemps pointed out on Twitter, “After making this deal, the Nets will have traded away control of their first round pick in all but one season between 2014 and 2027.”

But hey, Durant, Irving, and Harden on a team coached by Steve Nash sounds fun!