Rumor: Houston/Nets trade

[Moranis]

That is a bad trade for Houston and I'm pretty high on guys like Allen and LaVert, but that just isn't enough for a top 5 player in his prime.  Even if Brooklyn threw in a bunch of 1st round picks it isn't good enough.  You need a guy like Simmons coming back for Harden or it isn't worth doing.  And Simmons might very well be available for Harden.

Generally when a team deals a superstar like Harden they want a young player back with legit All Star potential.
Aside from the draft, these are probably the 23 most promising players below the age of 25 (Giannis and Jokic are 25, but won't be traded anyway I assume):

Ja Morant
Tyler Herro
Trae Young
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
De'Aaron Fox
Devin Booker
Donovan Mitchell
Jamal Murray
D'Angelo Russell

RJ Barrett
Luka Doncic
Brandon Ingram
Jayson Tatum
Ben Simmons
Jaylen Brown

Zion Williamson
Jaren Jackson Jr
Deandre Ayton
Bam Adebayo
John Collins
Domantas Sabonis
Karl-Anthony Towns
Kristaps Porzingis

Not a lot of them available for trade I think, since it wouldn't make much sense for the respective teams.

What do the bolded players represent?

Players on teams that have an experienced supporting cast to make a win-now-move by trading a young (potential) star.

Miami (Herro) has Dragic/Butler/Robinson/Crowder?/Adebayo/Olynyk
Sacramento (Fox) has Joseph/Hield/Bogdanovic?/Barnes/Bjelica/Holmes
Utah (Mitchell) has Conley/Ingles/Bogdanovic/O'Neal/Gobert
New York (Barrett) has Payton/Ellington?/Portis?/Gibson?/Robinson +/or cap space(?)
Philadelphia (Simmons) has Richardson/Harris/Horford/Embiid
Indiana (Sabonis) has Brogdon/Oladipo?/Holiday/Warren/Turner

I think for most teams that have a player on the quoted list above it doesn't make much sense to trade for Harden.
Either because the team is too young or inexperienced f.e. Atlanta/Memphis/Phoenix or since he's a bad fit with another player for instance Dallas (with Doncic while Porzingis is traded). Therefore I don't think that package by Brooklyn is terrible, since Houston will never get back equal value for James Harden.

To neutral NBA fans it would be a golden opportunity for the Celtics if they could trade for Harden by only giving up Smart/Brown + picks and finally getting that superstar to compete. But I'm unsure whether we should do that.

I can see Miami moving both Dragic and Herro for Harden.

why does Harden get disrespected like this? The guy is a top 5 player in the league and is perenially in MVP discussions. He is innovative and creates moves that other player's imitate and here you want to trade him for Dragic and Herro? Are you sure you dont want to add a first rounder from Houston to Miami to complete the total lack of respect?

Houston wouldn't trade Harden for just that, but I'm not sure they'll do much better than that rumoured Brooklyn package.

What is a package you think some team will give up for Harden and makes sense for Houston that goes in total rebuild?

I think there are a bunch of potential trades out there.  Phoenix is interesting.  They want to make a splash.  They have young talent.  I mean would they move Booker, as an example.  What about Sacramento?  They too want to make a splash and have lots of pieces.  The Hawks seemingly want to try to win, I think they'd both consider some combination of Collins, Hunter, Huerter, Reddish, 6 for Harden (the Hawks have the cap room to absorb).  Obviously those are risks as Harden probably doesn't move them into contender status, but they would be a lot better and sometimes that is enough.  The trade that I keep coming back to is, Simmons for Harden.  I think that makes a lot of sense for both teams.  On some level I think the Bucks would move Middleton for Harden.  Not sure Houston would do that as the primary piece, but Middleton is a very good 2-way player signed long term and still in his 20's (and the Bucks could provide other salary relief if the Rockets wanted out of someone like Gordon).

If Harden is really available, teams will come out of the woodwork.  Heck I could absolutely see Boston be willing to move Brown to acquire Harden (I think something like Brown, Smart, and Poirier gets the salary and is a decent offer).  A Harden/Tatum duo with supporting players like Walker would be incredible.  Huge payroll for the team, but incredible top end talent.

[pearljammer10]

Trading a star for four mediocre players really doesn’t get me that excited.

Yeah I feel like that’s a miserable deal for Houston.

To add I can not see a world where Kyrie and Harden works as a backcourt tandem.

[ederson]

Woj: Nets 'Rising' On James Harden's List As Possible Trade Destination

Even if Nets can offer a good enough package to land Harden I can't see how this can work between Harden and Kyrie

Bottom team in point  allowed candidate?

[gouki88]

Somebody figure out the details, I want this lineup:

Turner / Theis
Tatum
Brown
Harden / Smart
Jrue



EDIT:  Here it is:

https://tradenba.com/trades/f3ytRLBEp

Just add every possible pick over the next seven years, haha.

Let's make it crazy / silly

https://tradenba.com/trades/cjZOOlKbS

[RJ87]

From Shams a few minutes ago:

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
Rockets star James Harden wants to be on a contender elsewhere, and Brooklyn and Philadelphia are believed to be his top desired trade destinations, sources tell
@TheAthleticNBA @Stadium

Houston is fully comfortable keeping Harden and Russell Westbrook into the season.

If you're Philly, do you offer Ben Simmons?

[Vox_Populi]

From Shams a few minutes ago:

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
Rockets star James Harden wants to be on a contender elsewhere, and Brooklyn and Philadelphia are believed to be his top desired trade destinations, sources tell
@TheAthleticNBA @Stadium

Houston is fully comfortable keeping Harden and Russell Westbrook into the season.

If you're Philly, do you offer Ben Simmons?

I would. Simmons is very good, but he's not James Harden.

And I hope Ainge at least tries to get in on this. It would suck to lose Brown and Smart, but it's James Harden with a good coach and a young All-NBA player + an All-Star in Kemba. That's not bad at all.

[gift]

From Shams a few minutes ago:

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
Rockets star James Harden wants to be on a contender elsewhere, and Brooklyn and Philadelphia are believed to be his top desired trade destinations, sources tell
@TheAthleticNBA @Stadium

Houston is fully comfortable keeping Harden and Russell Westbrook into the season.

If you're Philly, do you offer Ben Simmons?

Definitely.

[tazzmaniac]

From Shams a few minutes ago:

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
Rockets star James Harden wants to be on a contender elsewhere, and Brooklyn and Philadelphia are believed to be his top desired trade destinations, sources tell
@TheAthleticNBA @Stadium

Houston is fully comfortable keeping Harden and Russell Westbrook into the season.

If you're Philly, do you offer Ben Simmons?

I would. Simmons is very good, but he's not James Harden.

And I hope Ainge at least tries to get in on this. It would suck to lose Brown and Smart, but it's James Harden with a good coach and a young All-NBA player + an All-Star in Kemba. That's not bad at all.

Obviously Philly would prefer not to but don't see how they have assets to get Harden if they don't include Simmons.  I would try to get Covington back in the trade.  Harden and Embiid would be a nasty pairing.  I'm surprised Miami isn't on Harden's preferred destinations. 

[gouki88]

Hope we’re doing our due diligence

[PhoSita]

Imagine being in the same division as Lowry/Siakam, Harden/Embiid, and Kyrie/Durant.


Would be all the sweeter to beat all of them, though.

[nickagneta]

Imagine being in the same division as Lowry/Siakam, Harden/Embiid, and Kyrie/Durant.


Would be all the sweeter to beat all of them, though.

I am not going to be too frightened of Kyrie/Durant until I see if Durant is back from his ruptured Achilles. I was reading an article and out of 18 well known players with ruptured Achilles, only Dominique Wilkins returned and was right away as good as he ever was statistically if not 100% there physically.

Like half those players never returned to play and only a couple came back as good or better than before, one being the aforementioned Nique, but the other 1 or 2 took some time, like seasons, to return back to normal-ish. The vast majority never came back or came back like DeMarcus Cousins, who, though he was in his mid 20's and entering his prime before the injury, has been a shell of his former self afterward.

Durant is 32. He's almost 7 feet and 240-250 lbs. He could very much need a Hayward-esque period of time to get back to being the KD we all know.

[Kuberski33]

Harden to the Nets needs to happen.  My guess is those 3 won't last half a season trying to share the ball.  And unless Houston management is drunk, the Nets will have to part with their future to get him.  It will effectively wreck the franchise - again - for at least another 5 seasons.

Philly on the other hand would concern me depending on what they would have to give up.

[NKY fan]

I have the feeling Harden and Durant want to join forces again but Kyrie is against it otherwise there would be reports of ongoing negotiations.

[footey]

I have the feeling Harden and Durant want to join forces again but Kyrie is against it otherwise there would be reports of ongoing negotiations.

This will never happen, BUT:

What if Durant tells Kyrie to suck it up and let Harden join them, and Kyrie says "no way, I want to be traded."

Would you consider trading Kemba to the Nets for Kyrie?  Or maybe do a 3 way trade where Kyrie gets routed to New Orleans, Kemba to the Nets, and Jrue Holiday to the Celtics? 

[NKY fan]

I have the feeling Harden and Durant want to join forces again but Kyrie is against it otherwise there would be reports of ongoing negotiations.

This will never happen, BUT:

What if Durant tells Kyrie to suck it up and let Harden join them, and Kyrie says "no way, I want to be traded."

Would you consider trading Kemba to the Nets for Kyrie?  Or maybe do a 3 way trade where Kyrie gets routed to New Orleans, Kemba to the Nets, and Jrue Holiday to the Celtics?

I think you have what is now 3 years of data that shows that Celtics are more successful without kyrie vs with him... so no I would not trade for him. The three team trade is a meh but if we get a pick back I would do it.