Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia 76ers finally have pulled the trigger on a Ben Simmons trade after months of failed attempts, but are graciously rewarded with a superstar in James Harden in return.
76ers receive: James Harden, Paul Millsap
Nets receive: Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, 2022 unprotected second-round pick, 2027 top 8 protected first-round pick
Boy, oh boy, it actually happened. In back-to-back years, the main course of the illustrious dinner that is the NBA trade deadline was a James Harden trade. No player even close to the quality of Harden– who at his worst is a borderline top 10 player in the league– has been moved midseason twice in their career, let alone two years in a row.
An even rarer instance is two teams, both rightfully aspiring championship contenders, making a major swap of personnel in the middle of the season. A blockbuster fueled by a litany of dramatic overtones, both the Nets and 76ers come out of this trade with legitimate intentions of taking home the coveted Larry O’Brien.
Brooklyn Nets
After only two injury-ridden, covid-vaccine-avoiding, “half-seasons” playing together, the superstar trio– the quality of which has never beset the NBA– Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden is no more. The likelihood of this storyline overtaking the 2012 Thunder as the biggest “what-if” in the history of the sport of basketball is fairly solid. The sheer absurdity of some of the numbers we saw when the trio played are straight out of a video game.
16 games. That’s the total amount of games the trio actually played together on the court. That’s it. In those 16 games, the Nets went 13-3 (8-2 in the regular season, 5-1 in the playoffs). In those 16 games, the trio shared a total of 365 minutes on the court together, and outscored opponents by 113 in that time. The trio had an obscene 126.7 offensive rating on the court together (for reference, the highest offensive rating a team has ever had over the course of a regular season was 118.3 which of course was held by the 2020-2021 Brooklyn Nets).
The pipedream that was James Harden in Brooklyn is no more and #ScaryHours was not a time that existed on the clocks of the NBA gods, but the ripples from the Nets trading for Harden are sizably turning into tidal waves. The Nets traded a lot for Harden. How much exactly? Well to start, they were forced to move Jarrett Allen and Caris Levert– two players that are once again on the same team, that ironically is 5 games higher in the standings than the Nets. The Nets also moved a shipload of picks to the Rockets, trading 2022, 2024, and 2026 unprotected first-round picks along with 2021, 2023, 2025, and 2027 unprotected pick-swaps in the first round (Taurean Prince and Rodoins Kurucs were also included in the trade.) If the Nets never manage to win a championship with its current core and Durant and/or Irving opt out of staying with the team long-term, those later picks are detrimental enough to offset any success in the franchise for years to come. If any team knows the harm of trading away unprotected first round picks for years down the line, it’s the Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets got a sizable return for Harden, as any superstar player should, speculatively due to the impending free agency Harden leveraged over the Nets. With a player option this upcoming free agency, Harden could have walked, and signed elsewhere on his own avail. Despite being able to sign him to a larger contract than any other team in the league, the Nets were fearful they would have traded away one of the biggest hauls in NBA history to have nothing to show for it just a year and a half later if Harden walked. For where their leverage stood, Brooklyn did well in negotiating to milk the 76ers of as much as they could if it meant shipping the Beard away.
Far and away the biggest return in the trade for the Nets was Ben Simmons. Without even lacing up his sneakers for a single appearance so far this season, it’s obvious what the 25-year old point guard is capable of. The last time we saw Simmons on the court, he had played the worst playoff series of his career when the 76ers were shockingly eliminated by the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Since then, Simmons has been heavily undervalued by the majority of fans, but his accolades for a 4-year vet have been nothing short of spectacular so far: All NBA Third Team, 3x All Star, 2x All Defensive First Team, Steals Leader, Rookie of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year runner-up.
Ben Simmons couldn’t have found himself in a more uncomfortable fit on offense when he was in Philadelphia. The hesitance to shoot is a glaring issue not even the biggest supporters of Simmons could ignore, but a big portion of his struggles on offense came from a clash of playstyles with the team’s superstar Joel Embiid. Simmons strives best bringing the ball up, and without the ball, shifting down to the dunker’s spot. With Embiid having such a heavy focus with isolation inside the arc and playing with his back to the basket, the spacing on the court tended to subject Simmons waiving off to the corner, where he showed no threat of scoring. With more space than Simmons can dream of now, the fit is more seamless in Brooklyn.
Ben Simmons has an array of tools the Nets would love to add to their team. Harden was the primary creator for others, and swapping him out with Simmons is natural, as Simmons is one of the most keen playmakers in the league. A big hole in the performance of the Nets this season has been their defense. A mediocre 21st in the league in defensive rating, the Nets were in desperate need of strength on that end of the court, more specifically around the perimeter. Aside from being a fantastic ball hawk, Simmons is a great help defender with size that allows him to have serious versatility guarding 1-4 without issue.
Brooklyn also has lacked that extra umph in pushing the ball down the court in transition this season, ranking in the top third of the league in pace, but shockingly only 14th in both percentage of plays that end in transition and points per possession in transition. Expect the Nets to push both those rankings up to the top third in the league once Simmons starts playing because he’s one of the best transition creators in the entire league.
The additional tandem of Ben Simmons and Andre Drummond also offer an array of rebounding. Simmons being one of the best rebounding guards in the league along with Drummond who is a walking 10+ rebounds a game are going to boost the boards the Nets collect per contest.
The Nets were able to include Seth Curry in the trade and that should be chalked up as a massive win. Curry is in the middle of what is his best season as a pro, averaging a career high 15 points per game on 40% shooting from beyond the arc with over 6 attempts per game. That type of shooting is pluggable on all 30 teams, and will certainly be of huge value in Brooklyn. With Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Joe Harris, and now Seth Curry, the Nets have 4 of the 10 or so best shooters in the league packed all onto one roster.
Ben Simmons’ appearances on the court become most intriguing in the closing lineups of games. The Nets can run a lineup overpacking their offense with Kyrie, Seth Curry, Durant, Simmons, and any pick of another wing, having Durant and Simmons play as the bigs. It’s likely head coach Steve Nash will run this to close out games more often than not, mimicking the mold the Warriors made with the “death lineup.”
All of this is speculative though, because Ben Simmons sourced “mental health” as the main reason Simmons wasn’t playing in Philadelphia. If this is the case, there might be a layover as to when Simmons will actually appear on the court, but if this claim was used as a smokescreen to defend Simmons’ “decision” not to play for the 76ers, this is a huge step back in the progressive movement of understanding professional athletes’ mental health issues.
An issue more glaring in the eyes of Nets’ executives– even more so than the potential falsification of Simmons’ mental health struggles– is the impartial attendance of Kyrie Irving. At this point everyone and their mother knows Irving has been openly resistant to taking the covid vaccine, preventing him from playing in any of the team’s home games so far this season, and even missing the majority of away games while being apart from the team.
The additions of Simmons, Curry, and Drummond are cute and sweet, but the true potential of the team can’t be fleshed out unless Irving, the Nets’ second best player now, is active in all games– especially in the playoffs. As of now, the Nets have 28 games remaining on their schedule, and Irving is eligible to only play in 11 of those. It’s going to be hard enough trying to build chemistry with Simmons and co. being new additions to the team with this short time left until the postseason, and it will be 10 times harder to mesh all the pieces together if Irving is going to play less than half the games leading up to then.
The Nets are not in an enviable position as of when this trade was executed, floating in play-in territory with a 29-26 record. There has never been a team in NBA history that won it all the same year they went on a 7+ game losing streak, and the Nets are currently sitting on a 10-game losing streak. Kevin Durant is still going to miss time due to an MCL sprain, and the team looks far from winning basketball with Kyrie playing part-time and Durant not playing at all.
The Nets waived DeAndre’ Bembry in the midst of the trade to make roster space for the additional player, which is another hit, with Bembry being one of the more consistent rotation pieces they had this season. Quite frankly, the Nets need Simmons and Curry especially to be game ready as soon as possible if the Nets would like to look anything like a contending team before it’s too late, and another season of the waning prime of Kevin Durant is wasted.
Philadelphia 76ers
What can be said about James Harden that hasn’t been told 10 times over? He’s a generational player, and is going to be remembered as one of the best singular engines of offense the NBA has ever seen. Despite this, the 2018 MVP is definitely not devoid of any criticism.
James Harden has been labeled as a diva by many. Is the insult entirely fair to use? Well, that depends whos’ asking. Harden’s career arc has been nothing short of dramatic at every stop he’s made (and some more drama sprinkled in between.) At some point it can’t just be coincidence that teams are corroding at the seams wherever Harden ends up.
Just to backtrack, here’s how some major pieces moved around Harden throughout his career:
- Harden is the Sixth Man of the Year on the Oklahoma City Thunder that made it to the Finals that year. They come short to the Heat, and Harden is traded that offseason to the Houston Rockets where he could blossom as a star. This was a great move, no complaints whatsoever.
- Harden has moderate success in Houston, immediately flourishing into an all star. After a year in Houston, the Rockets pair James Harden with free agent all star Dwight Howard. The pairing played together for 3 seasons, peaking with a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2015, before Harden essentially forced him off the team.
- Harden played without any other all stars for a season in 2017, where the Rockets were embarrassingly eliminated in the second round in 6 games to the San Antonio Spurs. This series was stapled by an iconic block Manu Ginobili had on a potential game-tying-three on James Harden in game 5. This was one of Harden’s worst individual playoff series.
- In the summer of 2017, the Rockets traded for Chris Paul. The duo were phenomenal together, pushing the Warriors further than any other team did during Durant’s tenure in Golden State up until that point. Leading the Warriors 3-2 in the 2018 conference finals, Chris Paul injures his hamstring, making him unavailable for the remainder of the series. The Rockets lead both game 6 and 7 by double digits at some point, before leading to the grand finale of all choke jobs in game 7, where the Rockets defied all statistical logic when they missed 27 consecutive threes and inevitably lost the series. They faced the Warriors in 2019 in the conference semi’s as well and were eliminated in 6 games. Had they not been in the same timeline as the arguable best team in history, Harden likely would have been a champion in 2018.
- After two seasons with the team, Chris Paul was forced to be traded off the Rockets by the wishes of James Harden. The team was in a weird position at the time, as they were just sold to new majority owner Tillman Fretita. With an over-involved owner forcing his executive’s hand on making a trade to satisfy the team’s franchise player, then Rockets GM Daryl Morey traded Chris Paul AND 3 first-round picks for Russell Westbrook.
- Westbrook was immediately a big downgrade to Chris Paul, and the Rockets had a forgettable season where they were eliminated in another embarrassing playoff series to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in just 5 games.
- Due to the outcome of the events unfolded, Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets parted ways.
- Rafael Stone was given the reins as executive of the franchise, and in his first two months, traded away Robert Covington for first round picks, and swapped Russell Westbrook in a trade with John Wall. Harden played just 8 games for the Rockets in the 2020 season, if you could consider what he did on the court as “playing.” It was clear to everyone who took the time to watch the science fair experiment that was the 2020 Houston Rockets that James Harden wanted out. He put no effort into that team, and demanded a trade.
- The Nets and Rockets agreed to a trade, with the Nets giving up one of the biggest trade loads in NBA history (details are stated earlier in the article.) Harden is paired with his longtime buddy and former teammate Kevin Durant, and is introduced to playing alongside former NBA champion Kyrie Irving. Questions of how the offense-heavy trio would work together as all three guys were ball-dominant, but once they started playing together, #ScaryHours were rightfully born. The team would only play 14 games together that season, playoffs included, before Kyrie went down in the playoffs, and Harden was playing on one leg in the conference semifinals against the Bucks before the Nets were ultimately eliminated in one of the most enthralling game 7’s the playoffs have ever seen. Fast forward to the 2022 season where Durant missed significant time with injury, Irving was missing from the team entirely for the majority of season and came back as a part time player, and Harden had immense struggles to start the year. He continued to struggle with the team as he was left as the lone star, when Harden finally hit his breaking point.
- James Harden is traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, reuniting with Daryl Morey.
That’s it for Harden. There’s no player in the league that circulates this amount of drama, even less so one that has never won it all on the biggest stage. This is the last chance for Harden to preserve his legacy as a contemporary to the all time greats who hoisted a championship on their mantle. There’s no coming back for Harden after this. If anymore drama circulates in Philadelphia and it doesn’t work out, he’s past the point of no return of avoiding the finger being pointed at him as to why each stop along his career was hijacked by failure in the playoffs.
It should be stated that the blame of the Nets collapse isn’t all pushed onto Harden. He has every right to be frustrated with how Kyrie went about the two brief seasons they spent together, and more of the blame should lay on the shoulder of Irving than anyone else. The issue is that this is far from the first implosion Harden experienced when he was sitting in the driver’s seat.
Even if you manage to find a rug large enough to sweep the drama under, there are still historically glaring issues Harden has suffered from in his career; most notably his performance in the playoffs. Many players see drop offs when it comes to the postseason–naturally that makes sense when all of a sudden you aren’t playing any lottery teams and are consistently matched up against the best teams in the league. Harden’s drop off is more prominent than most other superstars.
It’s difficult to truly quantify how Harden’s played worse in the playoffs because it has been such situational examples. When Harden’s team is playing “bad” playoff teams in the beginning round, James Harden is playing like MVP James Harden. These numbers boost up his overall playoff stats to the point where they aren’t glaringly bad. When he gets to the point where the series is on the line, that’s when Harden’s struggles are magnified.
Since he began his regular all star campaigns in 2013, Harden has averaged 28.9 points per game on 61% TS% in the regular season. In elimination playoff games, those numbers drop to 24 points per game on 58% TS%, where Harden’s team was outscored by 17 points when he was on the court. Harden is 9-12 in his career in elimination games.
James Harden also lacks that “playoff moment” that every all-time great has had at some point in their career. After 12 full seasons in the league, there isn’t one major positive memory that comes to mind when thinking about how Harden has played in the playoffs throughout his career.
All this noted, James Harden is still a phenomenal player– one of the best to ever play the game. He’s surely earned a great load of criticism along the way, but there’s a reason the 76ers had to trade Simmons, Curry, Drummond, and 2 first-rounders along with them to get Harden. Sometimes, despite the baggage involved, teams are pinned into making these types of trades, and with Embiid playing at an MVP level at 28-years old, there won’t be very many other opportunities to pair him up with a player of Harden’s quality.
The 76ers finished off the trade deadline with possibly the best duo in the league. Harden is as pure of a floor-raiser on offense as have ever entered the league. Simply because he’s now on the roster, Harden is going to turn Paul Reed or Charles Bassey into a double-digit nightly scorer because of how much of a threat he becomes in the pick-and-roll.
This is the main reason why it’s fair to assume the two-man pairing with Harden and Embiid will work the kinks out through their skill sets. Harden is one of the best pick-and-roll ball handlers the league has ever seen. He throws pinpoint lobs that Embiid would have no issues catching during the traditional PnR set with the big man rolling, and also has an uncanny disguise for his floaters to appear like lobs and his lobs to appear like floaters making Harden both a scoring or playmaking threat when assisted with a screen. Obviously it doesn’t end there when Harden has one of the best cross-court passes in the league if it’s coming out of his left hand to hit a patient shooter waiting in the corner, and if all the above fails, Harden can get a switch where he can operate as one of the best isolation surgeons in the sport.
The difference Harden poises from Simmons is his ability to create his own shot when the going gets tough. If not in transition or moving downhill, Simmons didn’t have the weapons in his arsenal to create a good look for his team on his own– something Harden is ridiculously strong in. Frankly, there isn’t a spot on the floor that Harden can’t create a decent look for himself out of.
In the meantime of the 76ers figuring this whole thing out, Daryl Morey deserves to be drinking a champagne luge off the crack of the Liberty Bell. With all the criticism he received for holding onto Simmons this season and “wasting an MVP season from Embiid,” Morey stuck to his guns, stalked the league for an opportunity, and as soon as he smelled blood, took the shot on the biggest buck he could see.
The trades that people were suggesting Morey settle on are a comedy compared to what he got. Morey was given flack amongst spectators for not finding equal value in deals like De’Aaron Fox + Buddy Hield, Domantas Sabonis, Pascal Siakam– hell, even Kevn Porter Jr. was a name that was mentioned that Morey should be happy to receive as the main tradeoff for Ben Simmons, and now he’s walking away with James Harden and the most smug grin anyone could fester.
There’s caution to be taken with Harden, this trade isn’t a sure win yet. Obviously first, the 76ers have to win. Embiid has never made it past the second round of the playoffs in his career, so making it to the conference finals should be a goal at minimum for the 76ers this season.
James Harden being traded to the 76ers came with the caveat that he opted into his 2022-2023 player option, guaranteeing 1.5 years of a Harden/Embiid duo at minimum. The scary stuff is what happens after that contract. If he’s still playing at an All NBA level next year, Harden is due for a massive four-year extension which would end when he’s 37: an age where he’s surely going to be overpaid a few times over. This is something that the Philadelphia 76ers are just going to have to deal with. If overpaying a retiring player just shows up on the first of every month just to collect paychecks, that’s a fair price to be paid if he manages to nab a championship or two along the way.
As an aside, Morey should also take pride in retaining both Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle in the trade. No doubt that Sean Marks made as strong of a push he could to both those players, but it’s unlikely Maxey wasn’t even a talking point. Thybulle is one of the brightest, unique defenders in the league, and he will be a beautiful complimentary piece to slot next to Harden around the perimeter. Keeping Thybulle is worth the price of trading a first-rounder.
Losing Curry was a big blow, but again, for someone like Harden, teams like the Sixers have to take those hits in order to maximize their opportunities. There are other minor wrinkles the 76ers have to iron out like now that Drummond is gone, where are the backup center minutes going to come from? Someone like Paul Millsap or Charles Bassey might be the answer, but those minor issues are going to take a backseat once the playoffs come around and Embiid will be clocking in 40 minutes a game regularly. Issues like these are ones that the Sixers have about 30 games or so to work on before the playoffs begin.
Harden is going to be good in Philadelphia, there’s no doubt about that. The question is “how good.” Good enough to win the title type-good? The jury is still out. If there’s anything to be learned from the Durant-Irving-Harden Nets is that: no matter how good a team looks, nothing is guaranteed.
