In January of 2021, the Brooklyn Nets completed a trade to bring James Harden from the Houston Rockets to join their superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. After Durant had left the Warriors the season before, there was no outright superteam left in the league but the Harden trade changed that, giving Brooklyn their very own ‘Big 3’.
Things haven’t quite gone according to plan for the Nets since they made the move, though. The team has struggled with injuries to their stars and controversies off the court, notably with Kyrie Irving. This has eventually led to a point where between the regular season and the playoffs, out of 113 possible games the trio could have appeared in, they have only managed to play 16 together.
Today is the one year anniversary of James Harden playing in his first game with the Nets.
Since that trade, the Nets have played a total of 113 games including playoffs. Of those 113 games, only 16 of them (14%) have had Harden, Durant and Irving all active. pic.twitter.com/97xQlrdb5f
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) January 16, 2022
Those 16 games account for just 14% of the games they could have possibly appeared in together. That is an exceptionally low number and explains why they may have fallen short of expectations so far. Despite going agonizingly close to beating the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last season, injuries to both Irving and Harden over the course of that series saw them lose in the end.
Those 16 games have set the tone for what the Nets could be though, their record in those contests is an impressive 13-3. The latest game that they had all 3 on the floor was a blowout win over the 1st seed Chicago Bulls. Kevin Durant’s latest injury means he will be unable to contribute for as many as 6 weeks, while Irving’s vaccination status still does not allow him to play games at the Nets’ home arena.
The earliest they can get their Big 3 back into the active roster will be March or so, and even then it remains to be seen what kind of an impact Irving will be able to have. Durant is a huge loss for the organization and their hope will be that he can come back at the same level after his injury and win the championship, or there will be serious questions asked about the organization after the season is over.
