It was reported earlier this week that a potential trade for James Harden isn’t universally supported by current Nets players.
Perhaps Kyrie Irving is one of those players who isn’t in favor of Brooklyn adding the eight-time All-Star.
Harden apparently is hell-bent on joining the Nets, as evidenced by his reported rejection of a record-breaking contract extension offer from the Houston Rockets. Kevin Durant reportedly is keen on reuniting with his former teammate, but according to NBA insider Chris Broussard, Irving isn’t on board with giving the Harden experiment a try.
” … I haven’t heard this from Kyrie or anybody close to him, but people around the league are saying Durant wants Harden and Kyrie does not,” Broussard said Tuesday on FS1’s “The Herd.” “Harden would likely have the ball in his hands, right? Here’s another thing for Kyrie to think about or those looking at his situation: Who is James Harden close with in the organization in Brooklyn? Mike D’Antoni, who was just hired as a coach for the Brooklyn Nets to assist Steve Nash.
“D’Antoni said James Harden is the best offensive player he’s ever seen. D’Antoni, every offense he’s created has had one guy handling the ball and creating the offense for everybody else. Who do you think he’s giving the ball to in Brooklyn, if they get James Harden? It’s Harden, and I don’t see Kyrie wanting to be the third-best player on a team. He’s never been the third-best player on a team. It would be a chemistry experiment to the nth degree.”
If Irving truly does feel that way about a possible Harden trade, it wouldn’t be surprising if he gets his way. The Rockets’ demand for Harden reportedly is quite steep, and the Nets currently doesn’t have the pieces to facilitate a deal of that magnitude. Brooklyn likely would need to rope in a third team to execute a blockbuster for the 2018 MVP.
We could see the likelihood of a Harden-to-Nets trade shift one direction or the other Wednesday night. Draft night tends to see plenty of wheeling and dealing around the league.
