All NBA off-season long, the Rockets and James Harden have been quite unhappy with each other. This week it finally hit a boiling point when after a 15 point loss to the Lakers, James Harden had this to say to the press about his current Rockets team. “I love this city. I’ve literally done everything I can. This situation is crazy. I don’t think it can be fixed. Thanks.” then Harden proceeded to storm out of the press conference. This was on January 12th.
Fast forward to today, January 13th, The Nets have just finalized a blockbuster deal with the Houston Rockets to trade for the former MVP and All-NBA superstar James Harden as announced by ESPN Insider Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal is a four team deal between the Nets, Rockets, Cavaliers, and Pacers and this is where it gets confusing but I’ll try my best to make it as easy as possible to read.
The Nets: Receive shooting guard James Harden and a 2024 second round pick via Cleveland.
The Cavaliers: Receive Center Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince.
The Pacers: Receive shooting guard Caris LeVert and a second round pick in 2021.
The Rockets: Will receive Shooting guards Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, and 3 (three) unprotected first round picks from the Nets in the years 2022, 2024, 2026. They will also get 4 (four) unprotected Nets pick swaps in 2021, 2023, 2025, and 2027. They will also get the Bucks first round pick in 2021, which they get via Cleveland.
I hope that made it easy to follow the trade details. The Nets now starting 5 when Kyrie comes back is Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Joe Harris, Kevin Durant, and DeAndre Jordan. The Nets are sacrificing their future to try and win a championship this year. James Harden will make his Nets debut this weekend against the Orlando Magic once he passes two Covid tests.
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