The Brooklyn Nets‘ Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving may break up this offseason.
That’s at least what one team in the Eastern Conference believes.
Durant and Irving signed with the Nets in the summer of 2019 as unrestricted free agents. Brooklyn then traded for Harden during the 2020-21 season, creating one of the most dangerous Big Threes on paper. Although the Nets didn’t win the 2021 championship, they were the betting favorite to come out of the East this campaign before the season started since Durant, Harden and Irving were healthy.
However, Irving chose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine and the Nets made a collaborative decision not to let the one-time champion be a part-time player before changing their mind in late December. Irving can’t play in home games for Brooklyn until he gets vaccinated and there is no sense that he will take the vaccine.
Multiple reports have stated that Harden is frustrated with Irving’s part-time status and doesn’t enjoy living in Brooklyn. The one-time MVP can become an unrestricted free agent this offseason once he declines his 2022-23 player option and one of the Nets’ biggest rivals thinks Harden will leave Brooklyn.
Sixers ‘Strongly Believe’ James Harden Won’t Re-Sign with Nets
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Philadelphia 76ers “strongly believe” Harden will not re-sign with the Nets in the offseason. The lefty has a close relationship with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, who is motivated to pair Harden with Joel Embiid.
“As our Shams Charania reported recently, there have been growing concerns about Harden’s style of play of late — and that was before he started missing games with a sore hamstring,” Amick wrote. “But the Sixers, sources say, strongly believe he won’t re-sign with the Nets and remain hopeful that Brooklyn sees the light before the deadline buzzer sounds.”
Harden has never been an unrestricted free agent during his career. If the Nets don’t win the championship this season, he could leave Brooklyn and sign with any team of his choice in the summer. If that happens, the Nets would regret not trading Harden at this year’s trade deadline and getting something in return for the future Hall of Famer.
If the season ended today, the Nets would be in the play-in tournament. Durant has been out since January 15 with a sprained MCL in his left knee and it’s unknown when he’ll be cleared to play. Harden and Irving haven’t been able to lead Brooklyn to wins as a duo and the former is now dealing with a hamstring and hand injury.
Harden and Nets head coach Steve Nash have said all the right things to the media. The player has stated he wants to remain in Brooklyn and the coach has echoed that. However, that hasn’t stopped the Nets and Sixers from talking.
‘Absolutely Is a Chance’ of Harden, Ben Simmons Trade
According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Nets and Sixers could still complete a Harden-Ben Simmons trade before the NBA trade deadline. If the Sixers are unable to trade for Harden at the deadline, they have a realistic path to acquiring him in the offseason, per Amick.
Philadelphia would have to trade Simmons to free up cap space to sign Harden, whose starting salary would be around $42 million per year. Morey would also have to get rid of Tobias Harris since he’s owed a combined $79.4 million over the next two seasons.
“The belief in Philadelphia, sources say, is that he (Harden) wouldn’t let $10 million or $20 million (over the life of a deal) be a deal-breaker if he wanted to play for the Sixers,” Amick wrote.
Buckle up Nets and Sixers fans. Harden is either going to get traded to Philadelphia in the next two days or enter free agency in July and command max attention and dollars.
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Nets Rival ‘Strongly Believe’ Star’s Career in Brooklyn Is Nearing an End: Report