The Brooklyn Nets went all-in on James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. It was a high-risk, high-reward move but the rewards were few and far between
So much for the NBA’s most recent incarnation of The Big Three. On Thursday afternoon’s trade deadline, the Brooklyn Nets shipped James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two draft picks. The Nets had hoped that adding Harden to a mix of players that included another former MVP, Kevin Durant, and seven-time All-Star Kyrie Irving would make them title contenders. Instead, the group flamed out in little over a year.
That the mix didn’t work, frankly, was not shocking. Acquiring Harden, who arguably deserved to win more than one MVP award during his time with the Houston Rockets, was always a barely calculated risk. Harden is one of the great scorers in NBA history, but he came to Brooklyn having worn out his welcome in Houston. Irving, meanwhile, forced a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers and had spent his time with the Boston Celtics secretly plotting a move to Brooklyn alongside Durant.