The blockbuster trade was made official during the Brooklyn Nets' 1oth consecutive loss on Thursday, just a few hours after the 2022 NBA trade deadline passed. James Harden and Paul Millsap are now Sixers, while Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond are Nets. Brooklyn also gets a couple valuable draft picks to work with in the future.
But the biggest source of curiosity among fans is how precisely did we get to this point? What went wrong?
GM Sean Marks thought he'd have the Nets' Big 3 “signed, sealed, and delivered” in the offseason. Owner Joe Tsai sounded confident Harden wanted to retire a Net in late Sept. Woj said the Big Three were all committed to making this work just days ago. So what happened?
The more tea leaves we read, the more it sounds like Kyrie Irving may have been an important factor in the whole shakeup.
First there was this from Jake Fischer last month:
Harden has been vocal to Nets figures and close contacts alike about his frustrations regarding Kyrie Irving's part-time playing status.
On the day of the trade, we got a few juicy nuggets from Joe Vardon of The Athletic:
-
The Nets were in Cleveland Jan. 17. In their locker room before the game, Kyrie Irving lit ablaze some sage — a Native American ritual Irving has embraced to cleanse negative energy. Irving doesn’t do this before every game, but he apparently still feels haunted by parts of his past on the Cavs. So he lit his torch.
-
Harden, according to sources who were in the room when it happened, was seated in front of his locker, watching Irving, and looked at Kyrie like he had three heads.
-
“Definitely a weird vibe between them,” one source said. “You could tell Harden was annoyed, and Kyrie wasn’t feeling James.
Then it was ESPN's Kendrick Perkins with more. And before you dismiss this, since Perkins doesn't have the same type of resume as the other journalists, keep in mind Perkins has dropped some intel on this saga that has already proven to be on point:
According to Perkins appearing on ESPN:
“… James Harden didn't want to play with Kyrie Irving. Because Kyrie Irving don't get held accountable by Steve Nash when they in film rooms but James Harden does … because Steve Nash was telling him that certain shots and certain looks wasn't good looks but wasn't telling the same thing to Kyrie Irving … he just didn't wanna be there. He didn't want to be in that culture.”
There's a good chance we're going to learn more about the true reasons James Harden wanted out. The report from Fischer cited above also touched upon things like The Beard missing the lifestyle he once had in Houston with regards to taxes, real estate and other things.
Irving clapped back on Twitter at the Vardon post, suggesting The Athletic reporter is merely a puppet for someone else's agenda:
When given the opportunity to talk about Harden's departure the day of the trade, one quote from Irving was especially interesting.
“That’s not really my place in terms of trying to convince somebody of something that they probably can’t see right now. James probably couldn’t see what we were getting into, obviously with my status being in and out, you know I saw a few things that maybe could have impacted things, but who knows,” Irving said.
One could read that as Irving acknowledging his own role in Harden wanting out. If you buy Vardon's report about the burning sage incident and the “weird vibe” between the two stars, maybe Irving's phrasing that he “saw a few things that maybe could have impacted things” refers to those moments. Or those film room sessions Perkins talks about.
Last April, SNY's Ian Begley joined me on a podcast and suggested Kevin Durant really wanted the Nets to pursue Harden when he was available and still on the Houston Rockets.
Begley noted that certain prominent Nets players (not just the ones who were traded, like Jarrett Allen) were not as keen on onboarding Harden. It was my read this implied Irving wasn't originally thrilled about the Nets' decision to trade for the 2018 MVP but eventually got on board.
The more we learn about this subject, the more it makes sense that there was perhaps some form of rift or resentment here and the whole thing got exacerbated over Irving's lack of availability.
“I think that we can say our peace to James (Harden) and wish him well,” said Irving, following the team's 10th consecutive loss. “Ultimately for me, I just want everybody to be happy and do things that they love to do and be a part of things that they can see themselves being successful at, and it probably wasn’t here with us. And he made a choice and we respect him for it, no love lost.”
Harden “reported” some left hamstring tightness back on Jan. 25. Kevin Durant was already dealing with a sprained knee at that point. Harden would go on to miss a handful of games with a strained hand and that hamstring issue.
Is it possible that Harden was frustrated with the nagging injuries he'd picked up while logging major minutes, all to carry a struggling team amid a losing streak, and just hit his breaking point? Could even a slight hamstring tweak have caused Harden enough frustration to basically say to himself: The last thing I want is a repeat of last season when I pushed myself too hard. Why am I working so much to pull weight for a player who could help us full-time if he'd simply get the COVID vaccine? And then he gets special treatment in film sessions or sage burning seance's too? I can't do this for another five years.
In GM Sean Marks' brief media availability on Friday, he indicated the whole thing turned in a hurry. Marks said there wasn't much to the idea Harden had been openly disgruntled for a long time and claimed he only recently learned of Harden's desire for a change.
If there's truth to all of the rumors we're hearing, it sounds like Harden didn't make his decision on any one thing. But it does seem like there's some smoke coming from the burning bundle of sage suggesting he didn't love the idea of committing to being Irving's teammate for the long haul. Maybe we'll learn more over time. If you like the return the Nets got in the trade, maybe it all worked out. If you don't, you can wonder what role Irving had in the Big 3's grand divorce.
Follow Us
Subscribe
