Finally ! FINALLY !! After weeks and weeks of speculation, James Harden just got what he wanted, namely a transfer to a contender. The nuclear bomb fell this Wednesday evening, the Bearded joined the Nets of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. BOOM!
The NBA planet is on fire this Wednesday night. Around 8 p.m. French time, rumors of an impending transfer started to ignite Twitter, with the Nets and Sixers as favorites. In recent days, the discussions had already gathered momentum but the media release of the Bearded man after the meeting with the Lakers has undoubtedly accelerated things, creating a definitive rift between James Harden and the rest of the Texas franchise, as point that the former MVP was not even in training for his team on Wednesday. John Wall’s statements, and especially those of DeMarcus Cousins, who did not hesitate to highlight Harden’s lack of respect for his teammates through his attitude, showed one thing: this mess really needed to be ‘stopped. And shortly after 10 p.m., the bomb fell, with the big names ofESPN and The Athletic to announce the news: James Harden has just been transferred to Brooklyn, the franchise where Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving evolve! After more than eight seasons with the Rockets, the former MVP changes conference to team up with two of the best forwards on the planet. A huge blockbuster trade since it involves no less than four teams, the Cavaliers and Pacers being also involved, and other important names, namely Caris LeVert and… Victor Oladipo. In short, a huge earthquake on the basketball planet. Here are the exact terms of the deal, with our friend Shams Charania who enlightens us well.
The Nets receive: James Harden
The Rockets receive: Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, three Brooklyn Draft first-round picks (2022, 2024, 2026), Cleveland Draft first-round pick (2022, via Milwaukee), four Brooklyn first-round pick swaps (2021, 2023, 2025, 2027)
The Pacers receive: Caris LeVert, a second round of Draft
The Cavaliers receive: Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince
Clearly, we weren’t expecting LeVert to land at the Pacers, nor Victor Oladipo to go to Houston. We will talk about these two a little later in another paper but Houston has just secured a real future by recovering a choice wagon from Draft as well as pick swaps in all directions. We are only talking about the first round of Draft in addition, and nothing is protected. Clearly the Rockets are going to be able to build something with that to bounce back from the James Harden era. Nets side, no need to go four ways, they sacrificed their future (many draft choices sacrificed, young talents like LeVert and Allen sent elsewhere) to win immediately, with Kevin Durant, the Bearded, and Kyrie Irving if he ever decides to come back. It’s the title or nothing in the next three-four years for Brooklyn. The Big Three are incredible offensively and the opposing defenses are already shaking, although it has to be seen how the three will share the ball. But that is a discussion for another day. Finally, concerning the Cavaliers, they recover a promising young pivot and who is progressing well with Jarrett Allen, who will undoubtedly represent the future of the franchise in this position while Andre Drummond is at the end of his contract. As for Taurean Prince, we are talking about a 26-year-old winger who turns more than 11 career points with a correct percentage of 36.6% at 3-point.
This deal is simply huge. Clearly, the NBA has just changed its face on Wednesday, with the Nets who have just changed dimension. James Harden is officially in Brooklyn with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the sentence is incredible.
Source texte : The Athletic / ESPN
All four first-round picks and all four first-round pick swaps to the Rockets are unprotected, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. https://t.co/HdiUsvjPP7
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 13, 2021
