The Brooklyn Nets' premature separation of their star trio marked the end of a disappointing time in Nets basketball as Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving could have set the NBA on fire. Instead, copious amounts of injuries allowed the Nets' stars to all play together in just 16 games together.

Amid a lengthy losing streak, the Nets pulled off a blockbuster move to land Ben Simmons and other assets from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Harden and Paul Millsap. Harden's connections with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and desire to be traded to the Sixers, as ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski outlined, made the trade somewhat fishy.

Nets general manager Sean Marks, though, isn't going to call foul play until more details emerge and will let the league handle it.

The Nets now have Simmons, a defensive stalwart and stellar playmaker, as well as Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two more draft picks. They should still be able to compete for a top spot in the Eastern Conference despite Kevin Durant's injury and Kyrie Irving's status as a part-time player due to his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, they have some nice depth pieces like Curry, Patty Mills, LaMarcus Aldridge and Joe Harris, though the latter two are dealing with injuries.

Brooklyn should be able to challenge just about any team when they are full strength. Unfortunately, they rarely are. Simmons and the picks they got from Philadelphia should allow them to compete for longer but the original big three might have been better.