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James Harden has officially completed his move to join the Philadelphia 76ers and is expected to complete his medical in the coming days. The 32-year-old has brought an end to his relatively brief spell at the Brooklyn Nets, where he missed his last three games due to a hamstring issue.
As well as securing the 10-time All-Star pick the 76ers also got Paul Millsap as part of an exchange that saw under-fire Australian Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks move to the Nets.
The 76ers, who already sit top of the Eastern Conference, will hope that the addition of Harden to their ranks will push them safely into the postseason, and such a trade is sure to lead to an improvement in their betting odds. The Wells Fargo Center side is currently (+700) on www.sidelines.io, the odds comparison service, placing them in joint fourth spot with reigning champions the Milwaukee Bucks.
Simmons moves to a Brooklyn Nets side that is in something of a freefall of late, with Steve Nash's side on a run of 11 straight defeats, leaving the Barclays Center side with a 29-27 record. That run is down in a big way due to the loss of Kevin Durant to injury, and they'll hope that the 33-year-old can make an imminent return from his sprained MCL.
Durant was quick to back Harden following his exit, stating;
"James doesn't have to explain anything to anybody,"
"He's his own man. He makes his decisions on his career by himself. He doesn't owe anybody an explanation, and I wasn't looking for one."
"I'm just glad that we got this thing done, and now we're able to move forward and get some of this noise away, and I'm sure he would feel the same way. But from around our team and around our group, there's noise about what may happen. So I'm glad we can push through that."
"I think once a person gets to that decision of 'I'm unhappy,' I think he's gone through a lot of steps to get there,"
"So no matter what I say or try to convince someone -- I'm not saying I did this, but this is just my theory on this -- no matter what I say or do to try to convince someone to change their mood from being unhappy to happy, I think that's when I'm pretty late to the party.
In a way, the departure should help to calm matters in a dressing room that has a great deal of baggage. Kyrie Irving has been back in action in recent weeks, with moderate success, but is, of course, unavailable for home fixtures due to his vaccination status.
Nash will want to have Simmons available as soon as possible and will hope that the undoubtedly talented but seemingly unwanted Philadelphia star can hit the ground running when he does get back out on the court.
Of the two sides, objectively speaking, it’s Brooklyn who comes out of this deal with the better trade.
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