The James Harden Trade Dominoes

    The NBA trade season has finally kicked off with an absolute blockbuster. This was technically two trades in one, but the James Harden to Brooklyn trade led directly into the LeVert and Oladipo swap. I'm going to try to breakdown this trade as a whole and how this effects each team involved.

    First off we have the Rockets. I think this was a good decision on their part because of Harden's noticeable displeasure with Houston. This is essentially a move that begins the rebuild of the Rockets. They are not in terrible shape with the players that they have right now, but they definitely could've gotten more talent than Vic, Exum, and Kurucs. The reason for acquiring these players is as simple as this, Oladipo and Exum are on expiring deals and Kurucs is making less than two million on a team option next season. This provides Houston with a lot more cap space and a ton of draft capital that they did not expect to have coming into next offseason. 

    Next, we have the Nets. Brooklyn definitely raised their ceiling with this deal. James Harden is a top 10 player and makes the Nets an instant title contender. In raising their potential, they completely hemorrhaged both their depth and their future draft assets. Even with all that, if they are able to win a championship with this core then it would all be worth it. This is definitely a swing for the fences, but if Kyrie doesn't return this could be devastating for the Nets. Personally, I think that the loss that hurts them the most is Jarrett Allen, he is a great young center who was going to be a restricted free agent after this season. 

    The Cavs were the 3rd team involved with the initial Harden to Brooklyn deal. They acquired both Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince. Their only loss was Exum and the Bucks 2022 pick, which doesn't carry a whole lot of value. Honestly, the Cavs made out very good in this deal. This moves seem weird because Drummond is already in Cleveland, but I don't think the Cavs were going to pay him after this season and Allen is a restricted free agent after this year whose timeline better matches their young core. Prince is a decent wing player who could help them on the court, but also has a very good contract for trades as his deal sits in the mid teens in AAV. 

    Lastly, we have the Pacers. Indiana parted ways with former All-Star guard Victor Oladipo for Caris LeVert and a 2nd round pick. Oladipo had seem to express displeasure in the past with the franchise. Oladipo is set to be an unrestricted free agent after this season, and I believe Indiana saw the writing on the wall and decided to make a move. LeVert looked like a borderline All-Star last year, when he was the number one option in Brooklyn. I think he'll be a fine addition and this be will a big plus for the Pacers going forward. I really don't think this hurts them at this time either. LeVert is going to step right in and be able to contribute to this team just as much as Oladipo had. 

    For this being a four team trade, only the Rockets got clearly worse from this deal but they received an absolute haul for Harden and are in a good position for a quick rebuild. It'll be interesting to look back on this trade in three to four seasons and see how this deal panned out for all teams that were involved.