James Harden has been traded by the Brooklyn Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers along with Paul Millsap. The Nets in turn get Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, Seth Curry, and 2 first-round picks.
The move comes a few hours before the trade deadline and was expected to take place today. The 76ers rejected trade offers from teams like the Sacramento Kings for Ben Simmons. Now we know why. James harden is reunited with his GM from Houston (Daryl Morey) and being paired up with Joel Embiid it will be interesting to see how good the 76ers can be with a former MVP and a player in contention for the MVP this season.
The Brooklyn Nets are trading James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 10, 2022
There was much speculation around the league that the 2 teams would be in discussions and try to make a deal happen before the trade deadline. The situation in Philadelphia has been bad ever since they lost in the eastern conference semifinals last season to the Atlanta Hawks.
Point guard Ben Simmons was criticized by his coach, teammates, and the media due to his lack of aggression and willingness to shoot the ball in the 4th quarter. Head coach Doc Rivers were asked whether he could win with a point guard like Simmons and he responded, ‘I don’t know.’. Ever since then the point guard has made it clear that he didn’t want to play for the 76ers and even went as far as claiming mental health issues to sit out the season until he was traded. Well, he finally has been traded and he better perform at a high level because all eyes are on him now.
James Harden has been unhappy for a while now in Brooklyn. A major reason is the part-time availability of Kyrie Irving and his refusing to take the vaccine the injury to Kevin Durant just added onto it. The Nets felt like they needed to make the trade after Harden scored just 4 points in 37 minutes against the Sacramento Kings on 3rd February 2022 along with the guard sitting out the last 4 games claiming a hamstring injury. He has been showing indications of being frustrated and unwilling to play at 100% – something he did when he wanted to be traded from Houston.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the former MVP did not publicly ask for trade despite wanting to be moved, as he was afraid of the public backlash he would receive, having forced his way out of 2 teams in 2 years. Similar to Simmons, Harden has no more excuses. he has to perform at a high level and has all the pieces he needs to get to the NBA finals and win a championship.
While James Harden was a great pickup for the 76ers, the nets did not necessarily lose out, having gained a 6’10” defensive guard in Ben Simmons as well as a 40% 3 point shooter in Seth Curry. The pickup of Drummond is huge too as the nets’ lack of size has been one of the weaknesses the team has had. Drummond provides them with a strong presence in the paint defensively as well as a very good rebounder. Both teams look better than ever and with how exciting the race for the top 6 seeds in the east has been, this trade has just made it even better.
