In Brooklyn, Kevin Durant and the Nets are fighting to stay afloat after a slow start to the season. Amid Kyrie’s suspension and Ben Simmons’ slow return to form, KD has been left to go to war on his own, and things have been pretty up and down since.
Looking back on everything that has happened, it’s hard not to wonder where it all went wrong for the Nets, who could see their ‘superteam’ fall as soon as this summer.
According to one Eastern Conference executive, part of the issue could be the James Harden trade. Apparently, there is a belief that the Nets could have gotten more for Harden had they simply held out instead of forcing a deal right away. All they made out within the deal with Seth Curry and draft picks.
“They dug their own hole on this,” the executive said, via Sean Deveney of heavy.com. “They were sort of just over the barrel with the James Harden stuff, the Sixers had them in a no-win position. They should have held out more on Harden but they looked around and figured they were not going to do better. It is tough to trade away a star like that—we’re not going to do better, let’s take what we can get. In the end, they got really, really screwed by the Sixers because they did not have any leverage with Harden. But if they took a harder line on trading Harden, they’d be in a better position. They could have waited it out until the summer, or at least bluffed it. But they caved to Philly in the deal and they’re paying the price.”
It’s a harsh assessment, but not a wrong one. This season, we are seeing how much the Nets lack depth, and maximizing the return of James Harden was an opportunity for them to strengthen one of their most glaring weaknesses.
Of all the people involved, however, Ben Simmons may be the biggest x-factor in it all.
Ben Simmons Is Showing Some Signs Of Life For The Nets This Season
While Ben has been bad for most of the season, he has shown some flashes of the player he used to be. Against the Blazers on Thursday, Ben went off for a season-high 15 points and didn’t miss a shot the entire game.
And while we will never know the full extent of Ben’s journey to recovery, he is going to have to step up and be more consistent if the Nets want to avoid another failed season.
In the end, this all traces back to James Harden, whose very arrival on the team marked the beginning of a highly disappointing period in the franchise.
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