Just a few short days ago, the biggest blockbuster trade to hit the NBA in sometime saw former MVP James Harden go from Houston to the Nets. A four-way trade which included the Nets sending center Jarrett Allen and forward Taurean Prince to Cleveland, and guard Caris LeVert and forward Rodions Kurucs, as well as three first-round draft picks (2022, 2024, and 2026) and four first-round pick swaps (2021, 2023, 2025 and 2027) to Houston. The Rockets also receive guard Dante Exum and a 2022 first-round draft pick from Cleveland (via Milwaukee), and Brooklyn acquires a 2024 second-round draft pick from the Cavaliers to complete the deal. The Pacers would acquire LeVert and a future second-round pick from the Rockets in exchange for Victor Oladipo (NBA.com).
With Harden moving to Brooklyn, the Nets have assembled a big three that talent-wise hasn’t been seen in the East since the LeBron James Miami era. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will now be joined by Durant’s former teammate and MVP James Harden. Harden, who has yet to win an NBA championship, looks poised to make a run in the playoffs, and anyone not saying the Nets aren’t heavily favored to come out of the East doesn’t watch enough NBA basketball. We’ve seen big three teams dominate in this league for quite some time in the modern era going back to the Celtics team, which featured Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. With the amount of talent Brooklyn has acquired, and the future picks they’ve given away, it’s safe to say they are all in on this play, which is concerning for a few reasons.
Without a doubt, this big three is talented. They now have the best two iso offensive players in the league and an All-Star point guard in Irving who can fill it up. Any given night, each of these guys could easily give you 30 points, and each of these guys spaces the floor as good as anyone in the league. But what did they give up getting to this point? They had to give away their best rim protector in Jarrett Allen, and they gave up the best scoring option they had off the bench in Caris LeVert. They sacrificed depth for talent, and the talent they have seems unstable.
Kyrie Irving has not been playing for them. He’s not hurt. He just doesn’t seem interested in basketball at the moment. This is very concerning, as he was a major reason Durant came to Brooklyn in the first place. Another reason this team concerns me is when you form a big three, no matter how talented you are, it takes time to build chemistry. Look at the Heat, for example, they made it to the NBA finals on talent alone their first year as a big three and lost to the Mavericks in the finals. And they played together that whole year. If Irving’s not playing, and James Harden comes into the mix now, how will that affect this team’s chemistry down the road? Will this team look as dominant as they should in the playoffs? Or will this look like the most talented AAU basketball team of all time?
I look at the talent on this team and say, wow, all three of these guys get buckets, but they all come from such different systems. I’m not really worried about Durant. He played with the Warriors, and with all the talent on that team, he seemed to only get more efficient, but Harden. He’s been playing Harden ball in Houston for most of his career now. He’s played with Durant before, but he was coming off the bench. Can he put his ego aside and become more efficient with another great talent on the floor?
Harden’s life post-OKC has also been drastically different. He’s nowhere close to the same player he was there. He’s become a superstar, and with that has come an ego and a lifestyle of strip clubs and partying. He’s definitely gained weight this offseason, not in a good way, and so far, this season has been pretty bad for a guy that’s usually hovering in the MVP discussion. I think talent-wise, he obviously is still a superstar talent, but I’m less confident in Harden’s abilities now than any point in the last five years.
The same could be said about Irving. Without Lebron, Kyrie has not been as good. He’s still an All-Star talent but has been trending in a weird direction ever since he left Cleveland. He doesn’t seem like a locker room guy, and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you if he’ll even finish the season. He could retire on a whim right now, and I wouldn’t be shocked.
This big three has more question marks around it than any other big three I’ve ever seen. The talent is undeniable, and I still think they’re favorites to go to the finals, but this thing might fall apart and get ugly. I’m very interested to see how this all unfolds in the months to come.
