The Teams That Won and Lost The James Harden Trade

    

   

The Teams That Won and Lost The James Harden Trade 

     Yesterday evening a Woj bomb dropped when ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, and The Athletic's Shams Charaniagot reports that James Harden will be traded to the Nets from the Rockets in a four team deal. It seems that the Rockets knew they had to get Harden out after the incident just two nights ago. Where Harden said the situation can’t be fixed in Houston and left the podium right after. The Rockets had to make the trade. Now my thoughts on the trade for all four teams. 

First the the trade details:

Rockets get: Victor Oladipo, Rodions Kurucs, Dante Exum, four unprotected first-round picks (Brooklyn 2022, 2024 and 2026, Milwaukee 2022), and four unprotected first-round pick swaps (2021, 2023, 2025, 2027). 

Nets get: James Harden

Pacers get: Caris LeVert, 2023 second-round pick (from Houston)

Cavaliers get: Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince

The Rockets in my opinion did win the trade they did exactly what you can get when trading away a top 10 player in the NBA. Before the Westbrook and Harden trades Houston had no cap and no draft capital. They received four first round picks. Now they have both of those things. All probably won’t be starters but now you can build the culture with the attitudes and type of style of play you want. The Harden project didn’t work for a championship all they could do at this point was trade him. He was hurting the culture they need to let new head coach Stephen Silas the opportunity for a clean slate. The clean slate was also needed for new general manager Rafael Stone. He now has flexibility and is able to design his roster. They will also probably get rid of PJ Tucker but if they don’t hey he’s good for the culture. Acquiring Victor Oladipo is a good move. Oladipo wasn’t going to resign to the Pacers so now he can play with John Wall, and see what he is made of in a new city. Dante Exum is a good piece to come off the bench for Houston. The Rockets did a good job considering the situation they got picks, John Wall, Oladipo two guys good for culture and playing hard, also some fresh air for their new general manager and head coach. 

The Nets of course get the biggest piece of the pie by getting James Harden. The question is do the Nets though have to much pie and not enough grit? The Nets are really the only team currently with a big three of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden. The rest of the roster left is 

DeAndre Jordan

Joe Harris 

Landry Shamet

Tyler Johnson

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot

Jeff Green

Bruce Brown

Nic Claxton 

Reggie Perry

Chris Chiozza

Spencer Dinwiddie

Not a lot of depth if you ask me. Especially since Dinwiddie won’t be playing due to injury. Other teams they are looking to compete with assuming that’s what they want why else would you make this trade? They clearly think their championship window is now. Those teams are way deeper. Teams such as the Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets, Bucks, Heat, and 76ers. These teams have two stars and a lot of depth. The 76ers less with the Tobias Harris contract. The two star system in my opinion is better than having three big stars. Especially three stars who all want to be the man. Irving and Harden are two superstars that hold the ball the most. How they going to figure this out who gets the ball with Irving not being there? Seems like a lot for first year head coach Steve Nash. It also takes time for big threes to mesh. Look at Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh they lost in the Finals. Wade knew he had to make Lebron James the guy and commit to it for them to win a championship. That’s what they did. Will two of those guys do that for the other for the final shot in a NBA Eastern Conference Finals game? Don’t really see it happening. If they can it will be amazing they are such amazing talents I’d be history to watch. Just doesn’t seem the way to beat the Lebron James and AD Lakers or even Giannis Bucks. To me maybe to much personality in that locker room. The Nets gave up to much to not put themselves in a way better position. 

The Pacers get guard Carlis Levert from the Nets and a second round pick from the Rockets in 2023. In my opinion the Pacers needed to find out a way either to pay Oladipo which seems like they didn’t want to do. Probably because of his injury history. Or they needed to replace him because they have a team that can compete in the East. They did that with Levert. They get rid of the contract of Oladipo and get Levert who is a proven scorer.  He’s averaging 18.5 points in 27 minutes of play. He will play more on the Pacers while also being way more involved in the offense. He showed how well he can be by himself in the bubble. Last postseason he played 28.8 minutes per game, while he averaged 21 points per game. He was shooting 49.3% from the field in the series. Then shot 38.5% from the three showing he is developing his game from not just a slasher. He also had a 40 point game last season. Levert can play. The Pacers get rid of slight headache and what they got in Levert was worth what they gave up he will be a star. 

The Cavaliers get involved to take on some contracts in Taurean Prince but do get a good young rim protector in Jarrett Allen. Adding Allen down low with Andre Drummond and Kevin Love is a great move. Now he can learn from Drummond who plays the game Allen has to play due to body type. Maybe he’ll also work on his shot being next to Love. It will be hard to rebound on the Cavs basically replacing Tristian Thompson who left in free agency with Allen. Seems like a good deal. Allen is young and has a potential. Adding him to a young lineup with the likes of Colin Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr, Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, and among others. The Cavs are really building a new culture in Cleveland. Interested to see where they go from here. 

My rankings from top to bottom who did best in the trade:

1. Rockets 
2. Cavs 
3. Pacers
4. Nets

By Matthew Doherty