The Brooklyn Nets continue their free fall in the standings. They've now lost six consecutive games and sit at 29-22. But this one, a 112-101 loss to Tyrese Haliburton and the Sacramento Kings, is up there with their worst L's of the season.

Brooklyn drops now to 6th place in the East, 1.5 games out of the dreaded 7th seed.

On the second night of a back to back, nursing a strained hand, Harden played perhaps his worst game of the season. It might have been his worst game in many years. The Beard finished with just 4 points, 12 assists, and 8 rebounds. You might have to go back to his Oklahoma days to find a lower point total.

There's no Joe Harris, there' no Kevin Durant, or LaMarcus Aldridge, Harden isn't 100 percent. Who is these days? Still, six games in a row is a lot of L's to take for a team with arguably the best backcourt duo in the entire league.

What's been the issue lately?

“I think it's everything, a little bit of everything,” said a visibly frustrated Harden. So what can they do to fix it?

“Keep chipping away, one day at a time, that's all you can do. Come together closer, even tighter, it's definitely frustrating, it's definitely difficult, but we gotta find a way to get out of it as a group.”

Have they thought about a “players only” meeting or something like that? “Uh, no, I think we've done too much talking. I think we've done too much talking, we just, we gotta go out there and do it. And do it consistently. You know we have times where we're great, and we have times we're really bad and we just gotta find some consistency throughout the course of games, more times than not.”

But why hasn't that consistency been there?

“We just got a lot of different things internally, lineups, we haven't had no continuity yet so it's just one of those things where you just gotta keep going, nothing else to do, keep going, keep pushing forward.”

This answer could absolutely, positively be nothing. Just some banal, mundane boring old post-game cliches spouted by a frustrated player exhausted from a long road trip, trying not to complain that his hand hurts. That could very well be the case here. But with so many rumors swirling about the ASU product's wandering eye, and reports that he has “increased interest” in exploring free agency by summer, everything the seven time All-NBA star says takes on a whole new meaning.

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An article by Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report specifically cited some frustrations Harden's camp had with end of game lineups. So is that what Harden means when he says “lineups?” Or does he exclusively mean the injuries and COVID absences? And what does he mean “we just got a lot of different things internally?” Internal issues are never good, right?

Could that be a reference to some frustrations Fischer reported on regarding a certain superstar teammate's part-time status? Have there been tensions behind closed doors? It sounds as if Harden begins that quote (listen for yourself on the clip above) by saying “you know just as good as I do,” which might imply this is stuff reporters may already be aware of; and not some secret conflict.

So again, it could all be nothing at all. You get the point. With the looming specter of Harden's departure hanging over this team, every throwaway comment becomes fodder for dissection. I can offer you up some theories, but that's all they'd be. Fans of mayhem have already concocted their own interpretations. Just check out some of those replies in the tweet posted above. Everyone has a theory on what's going on with the Nets, and specifically with the 2018 MVP.

 

Harden was asked if the team has maybe hit a breaking point with Nets teammate Kyrie Kyrie in and out of the lineup and Kevin Durant being out with a knee sprain.

‘I dunno, I've never had a six game losing streak, I do know that.” Well that's not exactly a hard “no” on the breaking point angle.

No matter how bad things get, Kevin Durant's return should make a lot of things better. That could come post All-Star Break. Joe Harris might have a similar timetable. But it may not make the team feel great having to bank on Slim Reaper to play savior. This is something to keep an eye on.

These might be scary hours for the Nets, and not the good kind. Or it could all be something we look back on and say “man, remember when fans were all freaking out but none of it mattered 'cause they went on to win the championship then all signed long-term deals?”