I'm not sure why Houston wouldn't just sign-and-trade Harden to Miami or New York directly in that case. Seems completely unnecessary to basically give Harden away to a third team for free.
Not that I buy that report since it's a Broussard report.
If your choices are, for example, trade Harden to NY for a S+T Melo, or trade Harden elsewhere for some decent assets (maybe a future 1st or two) and sign Melo outright, I think option #2 is the clear winner.
Oh, absolutely. I was just referring to the idea of trading Harden in a straight dump to get Melo.
Though, at that point, it becomes a question of whether or not Boston is willing to surrender the assets they'd likely have to give up for Harden since Houston probably wouldn't just dump him.
Definitely. But I think Harden's valuable enough that Houston should get something for him even if they're obviously dumping him off to sign someone better.
What a weird career path that'd be for Harden if it happened. Elite 6th Man to budding superstar to salary dump for peanuts all before the age of 25, and without any injury issues.
