The Houston Rockets have traded superstar James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets in a blockbuster deal, according to multiple reports.
The deal is reportedly a four-way trade that will see the Nets acquire Harden, while the Rockets receive Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, four first-round picks – including the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2022 first-round pick from the Cleveland Cavaliers — and four Nets pick swaps.
The Cavaliers will get Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince and send a 2024 second-round pick to the Rockets. The fourth team, the Indiana Pacers, will get Caris LeVert and a 2023 second-round pick.
All of the picks and pick swaps Houston receives from Brooklyn will reportedly be unprotected.
Brooklyn now has the opportunity to pair Harden, one of the top scorers in NBA history and a generational playmaking talent, with former teammate and potential MVP candidate Kevin Durant, as well as an all-star talent in Kyrie Irving to form a new “Big 3.”
Evidently, the Nets are all-in on the immediate future, and will hope that the arrival of Harden — and the success they anticipate will come with him — shall make keeping Durant around for the long haul a much easier task.
Even if they burn out unexpectedly early in the playoffs this season, Harden still has another guaranteed year — and then a player option in his final year — left on his contract for the Nets front office to build around their new core.
Brooklyn will also hope that this situation plays out in contrast to the last time they gave up so many draft assets. In a different but similar situation back in 2013, they acquired Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from the Celtics in a blockbuster deal that ultimately bore out as a titanic failure and left the franchise in shambles for years afterwards.
The Nets now are left with three open roster spots after moving so many assets in order to acquire one player, and have their $5.7 million taxpayer midlevel exception – and likely a $5.7 million disabled player exception due to the season-ending Spencer Dinwiddie injury – available to them to help fill the space.
For the Rockets, they no longer have to manage Harden’s increasing displeasure with the team, which had been growing exponentially and very publicly over the past several weeks. No deal available to them allowed for a superstar to take Harden’s place, especially when the urgency generated by the 31-year-old forced a move while all of the league’s players who had signed or re-signed this past summer were still under the typical three-month trade moratorium. Instead, they opted to obtain as much draft compensation as possible in order to help secure the future of the franchise.
And while he’s no Harden, the acquisition of Oladipo brings another potentially all-star level talent to Houston who can be paired with the revitalized John Wall. Oladipo has looked much improved this season after a disappointing 2019-20 campaign that saw him still recovering from a ruptured quad tendon he suffered in 2019. He is also on an expiring deal, and so depending on how his relationship with the Rockets evolves over the course of the season, a decision can be made on his future there later.
Cleveland, whose young back court has been showing promise this season, adds a talented big man to its roster in the 22-year-old Allen, who has been ready for a consistent starting role with Andre Drummond’s contract set to expire following this season. Prince, additionally, has long appeared to need a change of scenery.
Indiana no longer has to concern itself with Oladipo’s upcoming free agency, and replaces him with LeVert, a fringe all-star talent just entering his prime at age 26 who is under contract for the next three seasons — including 2020-21.
