James Harden was recently traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for a Ben Simmons-centered package. There is no doubt that the writing was on the wall for that move to happen.
Coincidentally, the All-Star draft was today, the same day as the trade deadline. The two All-Star captains were LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Obviously, Kevin Durant is a member of the Nets and was teammates with James Harden. With that in mind, it was hilarious to see Kevin Durant pick Rudy Gobert over James Harden with his last pick in the All-Star Draft. Many fans reacted to that happening, with many finding it funny that Kevin Durant would snub his former teammate.
KD picks Rudy Gobert over James Harden 😅
(h/t @TedBuddy8) https://t.co/xgK6jRntAz
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 11, 2022
There is no doubt that James Harden’s exit from the Brooklyn Nets has caused waves around fans. It was obvious that James Harden wanted to leave, and it was also reported that Kyrie Irving wanted James Harden to be traded as well. However, perhaps it is a move that will benefit both franchises. A 3-time All-Star like Ben Simmons is far from the worst return for James Harden, and the Nets got two solid role players in Seth Curry and Andre Drummond on top of that as well. Those are players that can immediately contribute to their championship push this year, and slot in next to Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
It will be interesting to see how well the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets do going forward. Both teams have aspirations of winning the 2021-22 NBA championship, and there’s no doubt that both teams have assembled some pretty good rosters. A playoff series between the two would be amazing to watch, especially given this recent history. Hopefully, we see both teams find success after this trade, and we’ll see how this affects the Eastern Conference standings going forward.
