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⭐ OFFICIAL 2020-2021 NBA Off-Season Thread: Olympics begin 7/23; NBA Draft 7/29⭐
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Will a James Harden trade happen soon? Sources indicate it could
When James Harden brought the Houston Rockets’ messy melodrama to center stage late Tuesday night, announcing during his 90-second postgame Zoom session that “it’s something that I don’t think can be fixed,” a natural question emerged: Was a trade finally about to happen?
It appears that could be the case.
Sources tell The Athletic the Rockets are sifting through offers on a potential James Harden from two teams — the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers — that could culminate quickly. Approximately two months after he first asked to be traded, and with the Rockets (3-6) plummeting while the strain of it all reveals itself so plainly among his teammates, the situation is clearly reaching a breaking point and a deal appears all but inevitable. But which one will the Rockets pick?
The Nets have prepared a package to Houston for Harden featuring all of their four future first-round picks and three future pick swaps, multiple sources said. This would place significant pressure on the team to win immediately and the potential partnership between two former star teammates in Harden and Kevin Durant. Nets general manager Sean Marks and his front office have built an impactful culture around their players, and have been able to keep strong future flexibility in the process. For the Nets, there could be hesitation to mortgage future assets with this type of ferocity. Brooklyn does not owe any extra firsts or have any owed to it, so it has four firsts and three swaps available.
The Nets (6-6) entered this season with great expectations and title-contending hopes, but the combination of Kyrie Irving’s continued absence (personal reasons) and Kevin Durant’s week-long absence (COVID protocol) that ended with a win over Denver last night has been challenging. The timing would be perfect for a player like Harden to come aboard, but the Nets could still be hesitant to mortgage so many future assets.
The Rockets have pursued a 76ers package centered on All-NBA star Ben Simmons, sources said. Boston and Toronto have also expressed interest at various points. Simmons, a two-time All-Star, has continued to grow his game on the defensive end of the floor. As far as star talent, the Rockets would be able to acquire a player in Simmons whose talent level may not be available elsewhere.
Daryl Morey, the 76ers’ new head of basketball operations, has a long history with Harden, and Philadelphia’s interest has been well known. The 24-year-old is averaging 12.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists through 10 games this season.
One player whom the Rockets and 76ers have discussed in potential packages is 2019 first-round pick Matisse Thybulle, with Houston having interest in the defensive-minded forward, sources said. The Rockets have had a steep asking price from all interested teams, and the threshold for Philadelphia — and other contenders — to give up one or multiple first-round picks with young assets is unclear.
Harden informed the Rockets prior to training camp that he wanted a trade to a contender elsewhere, and the 76ers and Nets were atop his list of preferred destinations, sources said. That list has grown significantly since, sources said, but Brooklyn and Philadelphia appear to remain the focus.
The Rockets incorporated Harden into this season, moved past the turbulent moments around the team both on and off the court, and wanted to give this roster a fair opportunity. But the combination of the losing and Harden’s un-Harden-like play of late are surely adding to the urgency here too.
After averaging 37 points and 11 assists in the first three games, Harden has averaged 17.4 points and 10 assists in the past five games while shooting just 37.8 percent overall and 25.6 percent from 3-point range. After the Rockets fell to Indiana on Jan. 6, former Rocket Calvin Murphy could even be heard saying “he quit” on the team’s broadcast.
As always, there’s a human component to it all that is playing a massive part as the pressure builds. And from the awful optics of the Murphy moment or the uncomfortable directness of Harden’s latest media session, it’s getting worse quickly.
In terms of the collective toll that this saga has taken on the Rockets, it was even more evident when his new Rockets co-star, John Wall, spoke via Zoom after Harden.
As has been the case for first-year coach Stephen Silas and so many of the other Rockets, Wall has remained supportive of Harden in his public comments. But when asked to respond to his teammate’s latest musings about their team, and how back-to-back losses to the reigning champion Lakers left him feeling more hopeless about their potential than ever, Wall offered candid criticism.
“At the end of the day, a lot of guys here want to compete at a high level,” Wall, who was traded to Houston in the Russell Westbrook deal in early December, began. “And like I told everybody tonight, and I told the guys before, when the one-through-15 guys are all on the same page and they’re committing, they’re knowing their roles and they know what they want to do (and) they know what they want to get out of this – and that’s to win – you all will be fine. But when you have certain guys in the mix who don’t want to buy in all as one, it’s gonna be hard to do anything special or do anything good as a basketball team.
“I’ve been on those teams in my 11 years I’ve been in the league. I’ve been on teams like that in my first five years where it was all about ‘me, me, me, me,’ and not about the team, and that hurts and that brings everybody down. So if we get all on the same page, we can be something good here. But we can’t dwell down on it because it’s only been nine games. Like, come on man. You want to jump off the cliff off of nine games? There’s a lot of basketball still to be played.”
Harden’s answer, it seems clear, is a resounding yes. And he may get his wish soon.
When James Harden brought the Houston Rockets’ messy melodrama to center stage late Tuesday night, announcing during his 90-second postgame Zoom session that “it’s something that I don’t think can be fixed,” a natural question emerged: Was a trade finally about to happen?
It appears that could be the case.
Sources tell The Athletic the Rockets are sifting through offers on a potential James Harden from two teams — the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers — that could culminate quickly. Approximately two months after he first asked to be traded, and with the Rockets (3-6) plummeting while the strain of it all reveals itself so plainly among his teammates, the situation is clearly reaching a breaking point and a deal appears all but inevitable. But which one will the Rockets pick?
The Nets have prepared a package to Houston for Harden featuring all of their four future first-round picks and three future pick swaps, multiple sources said. This would place significant pressure on the team to win immediately and the potential partnership between two former star teammates in Harden and Kevin Durant. Nets general manager Sean Marks and his front office have built an impactful culture around their players, and have been able to keep strong future flexibility in the process. For the Nets, there could be hesitation to mortgage future assets with this type of ferocity. Brooklyn does not owe any extra firsts or have any owed to it, so it has four firsts and three swaps available.
The Nets (6-6) entered this season with great expectations and title-contending hopes, but the combination of Kyrie Irving’s continued absence (personal reasons) and Kevin Durant’s week-long absence (COVID protocol) that ended with a win over Denver last night has been challenging. The timing would be perfect for a player like Harden to come aboard, but the Nets could still be hesitant to mortgage so many future assets.
The Rockets have pursued a 76ers package centered on All-NBA star Ben Simmons, sources said. Boston and Toronto have also expressed interest at various points. Simmons, a two-time All-Star, has continued to grow his game on the defensive end of the floor. As far as star talent, the Rockets would be able to acquire a player in Simmons whose talent level may not be available elsewhere.
Daryl Morey, the 76ers’ new head of basketball operations, has a long history with Harden, and Philadelphia’s interest has been well known. The 24-year-old is averaging 12.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists through 10 games this season.
One player whom the Rockets and 76ers have discussed in potential packages is 2019 first-round pick Matisse Thybulle, with Houston having interest in the defensive-minded forward, sources said. The Rockets have had a steep asking price from all interested teams, and the threshold for Philadelphia — and other contenders — to give up one or multiple first-round picks with young assets is unclear.
Harden informed the Rockets prior to training camp that he wanted a trade to a contender elsewhere, and the 76ers and Nets were atop his list of preferred destinations, sources said. That list has grown significantly since, sources said, but Brooklyn and Philadelphia appear to remain the focus.
The Rockets incorporated Harden into this season, moved past the turbulent moments around the team both on and off the court, and wanted to give this roster a fair opportunity. But the combination of the losing and Harden’s un-Harden-like play of late are surely adding to the urgency here too.
After averaging 37 points and 11 assists in the first three games, Harden has averaged 17.4 points and 10 assists in the past five games while shooting just 37.8 percent overall and 25.6 percent from 3-point range. After the Rockets fell to Indiana on Jan. 6, former Rocket Calvin Murphy could even be heard saying “he quit” on the team’s broadcast.
As always, there’s a human component to it all that is playing a massive part as the pressure builds. And from the awful optics of the Murphy moment or the uncomfortable directness of Harden’s latest media session, it’s getting worse quickly.
In terms of the collective toll that this saga has taken on the Rockets, it was even more evident when his new Rockets co-star, John Wall, spoke via Zoom after Harden.
As has been the case for first-year coach Stephen Silas and so many of the other Rockets, Wall has remained supportive of Harden in his public comments. But when asked to respond to his teammate’s latest musings about their team, and how back-to-back losses to the reigning champion Lakers left him feeling more hopeless about their potential than ever, Wall offered candid criticism.
“At the end of the day, a lot of guys here want to compete at a high level,” Wall, who was traded to Houston in the Russell Westbrook deal in early December, began. “And like I told everybody tonight, and I told the guys before, when the one-through-15 guys are all on the same page and they’re committing, they’re knowing their roles and they know what they want to do (and) they know what they want to get out of this – and that’s to win – you all will be fine. But when you have certain guys in the mix who don’t want to buy in all as one, it’s gonna be hard to do anything special or do anything good as a basketball team.
“I’ve been on those teams in my 11 years I’ve been in the league. I’ve been on teams like that in my first five years where it was all about ‘me, me, me, me,’ and not about the team, and that hurts and that brings everybody down. So if we get all on the same page, we can be something good here. But we can’t dwell down on it because it’s only been nine games. Like, come on man. You want to jump off the cliff off of nine games? There’s a lot of basketball still to be played.”
Harden’s answer, it seems clear, is a resounding yes. And he may get his wish soon.
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Officer Jim and Steve Curry are both hella simple but have me dying every time lmaooo
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Ben, Matisse, 3 1sts
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Not a nickname but there used to be that guy named papagiannis and someone on here said he was Giannis's dad
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Need to see this trade. Nets desperate, Houston is better off without harden.
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Sixers got picks to give out too
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It hasn't been used much lately but World B. Flat used to kill me each time
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Sixers offer better. Tobias and/or Ben + Tisse. Plus they can match Brooklyn picks to an extent. Brooklyn picks useless because they’re gonna be high 20s every year. So will the Sixers but we can offer an All NBA level player
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