Nets Notes: Irving, Durant, Fertitta, Shumpert
Now that a new Big Three is together in Brooklyn, Kyrie Irving will likely be asked to sacrifice to make it work, two NBA scouts told Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Today’s trade that reunites James Harden with Kevin Durant gives the Nets three elite offensive players, but they may not fit together smoothly.
“On paper obviously that team wins the East and probably the whole thing,” said Bryan Oringher, a former scout with the Raptors, Hawks and Wizards. “But it all depends if they’re willing to do a Warriors-type thing and all sacrifice. (Harden’s) obviously incredible, but none of them seem super happy without the ball.”
Irving missed a fifth straight game tonight for personal reasons, and his absence could be extended if the NBA decides he has to quarantine when he returns to the team, Lewis adds. Coach Steve Nash refused to address specifics about Irving during a session with the media.
“I haven’t had an opportunity to know any new details about Kyrie’s situation,” Nash said. “So I’ll just rely on the front office to learn more as we go. They’re the ones that are going to do the messaging on that front.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Durant couldn’t talk directly about the Harden deal after tonight’s game because it’s still not official, but he did speak briefly about his previous experience with Harden in Oklahoma City, saying, “It was fun,” Lewis tweets. “I’ve heard that that’s not even finalized yet, so I’ll talk about it another time,” Durant added (Twitter link).
- Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta wasn’t impressed by the players the Nets were offering, such as Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie, who is sidelined with a torn ACL, Lewis adds in a separate story. That explains why Allen wound up in Cleveland and LeVert was sent to Indiana, while Houston acquired Victor Oladipo and a parcel of draft picks.
- Today’s trade leaves the Nets with three open roster spots, and free agent Iman Shumpert could be worth considering, writes Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. Shumpert played 13 games for Brooklyn last season and brought a strong defensive presence to the team. He briefly played alongside Harden in Houston, and was a teammate of Irving and Joe Harris in Cleveland.
Cavaliers Jumped At Chance To Acquire Jarrett Allen
With an uncertain future at center beyond this season, the Cavaliers were thrilled when the Nets called to see if they were interested in Jarrett Allen, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Allen will be a restricted free agent this summer, and Brooklyn was looking for another team to get involved in the James Harden deal.
The Cavs acquired a promising 22-year-old big man, along with swingman Taurean Prince, for the bargain price of Dante Exum, the Bucks’ first-round pick in 2022, and a second-rounder in 2024. Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s decision to accept an extension in Milwaukee deflated the value of the Bucks’ pick, Fedor notes.
Cleveland was able to add Allen’s $3.9MM salary with the trade exception it had from the Jordan Clarkson deal last season, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).
A source close to the team told Fedor the Cavaliers were “delighted” to pick up Allen.
“You get a guy who is 22 years old and just about to go into the prime of his career with our growing young core,” the source said. “To acquire a player of that magnitude, of that age, that’s why we acquired those assets, to have these opportunities.”
Andre Drummond is the current starting center in Cleveland, but he’s headed for free agency and was already a candidate to be moved before the trade deadline. Backup JaVale McGee is also in the final year of his contract and isn’t a good long-term fit at age 32. Fedor states that teams have already contacted the Cavs to see if McGee is available.
Allen can be the type of rim protector that Cleveland was seeking when it tried to acquire Myles Turner from the Pacers last February, Fedor notes. Instead, the organization surrendered cap room in free agency to trade for Drummond with the understanding that he was likely to opt into his $28.75MM salary for this season.
The Cavaliers have been interested in Allen since the 2017 draft and talked to the Nets about a potential deal during the offseason, according to Fedor. Brooklyn didn’t want to part with Allen at the time because of his low salary and his exceptional performance at Disney World, but that changed with the opportunity to acquire Harden. Allen is off to another strong start, averaging 11.2 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks through 12 games while shooting 67.7% from the field.
Cleveland is optimistic about its chances of keeping Allen beyond this season, Fedor adds. The Cavs inherit his Bird rights, and because he’s restricted they can match any offer he gets on the open market.
Latest On The James Harden Trade
The Rockets were in “deep conversations” with both the Nets and Sixers today regarding a James Harden deal before deciding to accept Brooklyn’s offer, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (video link). He adds that both teams made “very strong offers,” with Philadelphia willing to give up Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle, along with draft compensation.
However, the opportunity to pair Harden with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving prompted the Nets to agree to a package loaded with future draft picks. Houston will receive three first-round selections and four pick swaps from Brooklyn over the next seven years (plus a Bucks first-rounder via Cleveland), with all the picks being unprotected. The deal also cost the Nets Caris LeVert, who was subsequently shipped to Indiana, and Jarrett Allen, who went to Cleveland.
The new Big Three in Brooklyn has been brewing for a while, Charania adds. He says Harden, Irving and Durant met in Los Angeles about a month and a half ago and discussed the possibility of teaming up.
There’s more on today’s blockbuster deal:
- Simmons was “pretty ecstatic” that he wasn’t traded to Houston, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Simmons thinks the Sixers are capable of winning a title, and coach Doc Rivers is a huge believer in Simmons’ talent.
- Harden knew that trade talks had escalated when he made post-game comments Tuesday night indicating that the situation in Houston couldn’t be fixed, states ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link). Woj adds that the uncertainty surrounding Irving contributed to the Nets’ urgency to get a deal done, and the trade was made with an eye on convincing Durant to re-sign after his current contract expires.
- The Celtics weren’t willing to part with Jaylen Brown to obtain Harden, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (video link from NBC Sports Boston). With young stars in Brown and Jayson Tatum, the Celtics are on a different timetable than the Nets, Mannix adds.
- Because the trade hasn’t been finalized, Nets coach Steve Nash couldn’t comment on it in his pre-game session with reporters, tweets Malika Andrews of ESPN. However, Nash did discuss the challenge of trying to blend multiple star players. “It’s about trying to be greater than the sum of your parts,” he said. “That doesn’t change, no matter what your team looks like.”
- Handing out grades on the deal, Kevin Pelton of ESPN gives the Nets a D, noting that Brooklyn paid a steep price to get Harden and will regress defensively with the loss of Allen. Pelton gives the Rockets an A-minus for finding their way out of a difficult situation and loading up on draft picks, while the Pacers get a B-plus. The Cavaliers get a C, with Pelton questioning the cost (a first-round pick and future salary) for Allen, who will require a significant raise later this year.
Two More NBA Games Postponed
Health and safety protocols have forced a pair of Friday games to be postponed, the NBA announced in a press release (Twitter link). The game between the Wizards and Pistons in Detroit and the contest between the Warriors and Suns in Phoenix have both been called off.
“Because of ongoing contact tracing within the Wizards and Suns, the teams will not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with Friday night’s games,” the league stated.
Washington and Phoenix, which played each other Monday, both had games postponed tonight for the same reason. The Wizards were scheduled to host the Jazz, while the Suns had a home game with the Hawks.
The latest postponements bring the total to nine for the season, with eight of those coming since Sunday. This marks the first time the league has postponed a game two days in advance.
Teams Asking Rockets About P.J. Tucker
With the James Harden situation resolved, multiple teams are contacting the Rockets about P.J. Tucker, tweets Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
The 35-year-old forward was unhappy about not receiving an extension from the team before the season began. He is making $7,969,537 in the final season of his contract.
The Sixers reportedly wanted to pick up Tucker as part of a Harden trade, but they may not have the same interest level now that Harden is headed to Brooklyn. Daryl Morey, president of basketball operations in Philadelphia, brought Tucker to Houston as a free agent in 2017 when he was general manager of the Rockets.
Tucker is in his 10th NBA season and his fourth in Houston. He is averaging 5.6 PPG this year and is shooting 52% from 3-point range.
Zion Williamson Out Due To Health And Safety Protocols
5:42pm: Williamson’s absence tonight is related to an inconclusive COVID-19 test and the timing of the results of a second test, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN. The Pelicans don’t view it as anything significant, Lopez adds.
2:51pm: Star forward Zion Williamson will be unavailable for the Pelicans‘ game in Los Angeles against the Clippers on Wednesday night, the team announced today (via Twitter).
It’s a tough break for Williamson, who has averaged 26.3 PPG over his last three games, and for the Pelicans, who have slipped below .500 (4-5) after losing all three of those contests.
The NBA isn’t providing many specifics this season on why certain players are entering the health and safety protocols or how long they’ll be sidelined, so we’ll have to wait for more details to find out whether Williamson’s absence will be a brief one or if it will cover a week or more. He may have registered a positive or inconclusive COVID-19 test or have been exposed to someone who tested positive.
With Williamson out, backup frontcourt players such as Jaxson Hayes and Nicolo Melli are candidates to play some extra minutes on Wednesday night.
Sixteen Positives In Latest Round Of COVID-19 Testing
The NBA is reporting 16 positives among the 497 coronavirus tests conducted since January 6, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
There were just four positives last week among 498 tests, notes Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). Sixteen is more than the league has experienced in the last four weeks combined, adds Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link).
Several teams have seen their rosters severely depleted by the virus in the past week, with six games being canceled, including three tonight.
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is the highest-profile player to be confirmed with the virus this week. Among identified cases, Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. also tested positive, along with Sixers guard Seth Curry, four players from the Mavericks, and one from the Heat.
Eric Paschall Clears COVID-19 Protocols
JANUARY 13: Paschall has cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols and will join the Warriors on their upcoming road trip, tweets Slater. Golden State will begin that trip on Thursday in Denver.
JANUARY 12: Second-year Warriors reserve power forward Eric Paschall will be unavailable for tonight’s game against the Pacers as a result of the league’s coronavirus protocols, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Slater adds that the timeline for Paschall’s anticipated absence from the Warriors has yet to be determined. He may have returned a positive or inconclusive COVID-19 test result, or he may have come into contact with someone who later tested positive and is being isolated as a result of subsequent contact tracing.
Golden State drafted the 6’6″ forward, now 24, with the No. 41 pick out of Villanova in 2019. After injuries thrust him into a major role during his first NBA season, 2019/20, Paschall was named to the season’s All-Rookie First Team.
This year, Paschall is averaging 12.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.3 APG in 19.3 MPG for the 6-4 Warriors. Across 10 games, he holds a shooting slash line of .542/.389/.828.
Rockets Moving Closer To Harden Trade; Sixers, Nets In Mix
2:34pm: The Sixers, who have traded away a protected 2025 first-rounder, are attempting to scrounge up more draft picks to sweeten the pot for the Rockets, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. As Stein explains (via Twitter), Philadelphia is making an effort to keep Maxey out of a potential deal.
1:47pm: The Rockets continue to haggle over exactly which players and other assets would be included a Harden trade, but league sources say the Sixers appear to be the favorites, tweets Stein.
Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle confirms that Philadelphia has offered Simmons, but says the Rockets and 76ers have yet to agree on the rest of a trade structure. Houston wants Thybulle included in the package, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
1:28pm: The Rockets are pursuing a Sixers trade package that would be headlined by Simmons and Tyrese Maxey, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). The 76ers are known to be interested in P.J. Tucker in addition to Harden, Stein says (via Twitter).
1:13pm: As the Rockets seriously consider their trade options, they conducted today’s practice without Harden in attendance, head coach Stephen Silas told reporters (Twitter link via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon).
“We felt that it was best for the group and best for James not to come to practice,” Silas said.
The Rockets plan to keep Harden away from the team until a trade is done, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne (Twitter link). That’s another sign that the team is moving toward finalizing a deal in the very near future.
Woj and Shelburne add (via Twitter) that Houston’s talks with Brooklyn and Philadelphia were gaining momentum in recent days, even before Tuesday’s postgame presser.
1:04pm: It appears the Rockets have increased their efforts to trade James Harden in the wake of his blunt assessment of the team’s shortcomings on Tuesday night. According to Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic, Houston is “sifting through offers” from the Nets and Sixers and could move quickly to complete a deal.
Sources tell Charania and Amick that the Nets have prepared a package that would include four future first-round picks and three pick swaps. Teams are only permitted to trade draft picks up to seven years in advance and can’t leave themselves without a first-round pick in consecutive future seasons, so Brooklyn is essentially willing to put all its first-rounders on the table.
In that scenario, the Nets would presumably trade its 2021, 2023, 2025, and 2027 selections and agree to pick swaps for 2022, 2024, and 2026. However, The Athletic’s duo cautions that Brooklyn may hesitate to mortgage so many future assets.
It’s also not clear which players the Nets would make available in such a package. Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link) is among those who have heard that Houston hasn’t been enamored with the players the Nets have to offer. Previous reports have suggested a third team may be necessary to complete a trade sending Harden to Brooklyn, but it’s not clear if the 31-year-old’s comments on Tuesday night changed the equation and prompted the Rockets to lower their asking price a little.
As for the Sixers, Charania and Amick note that the Rockets have pursued a package headlined by Ben Simmons. The report doesn’t make it explicitly clear whether or not Simmons is on the table, but suggests he could be had. According to The Athletic, the Rockets and 76ers have also discussed Matisse Thybulle, a player Houston likes.
While Harden has expanded his list of preferred destinations beyond Brooklyn and Philadelphia, those were said to be the first two teams he expressed interest in joining and are still believed to be atop his wish list. Both teams make sense as fits, since they have the assets to acquire Harden without giving up their very best players.
Joining the Nets would give Harden the opportunity to reunite with former teammate Kevin Durant, while heading to Philadelphia would see him rejoin former Rockets GM Daryl Morey and team up with star center Joel Embiid.
Rockets’ Players, Silas Discuss Harden Situation
On Tuesday night, James Harden said that he didn’t feel as if the Rockets were “good enough” to compete with the NBA’s best teams, suggesting that there wasn’t enough talent on the roster and that he didn’t think the situation could be fixed.
Those comments may essentially represent his farewell to Houston, as they appear to have accelerated the Rockets’ efforts to trade him. They also didn’t sit well with some of the teammates he was throwing under the bus.
Addressing the situation today, DeMarcus Cousins pointedly stated that he came to Houston to play with John Wall, and expressed his displeasure with Harden’s public critique of the Rockets and the way he has handled himself over the last month or two.
“He can feel however he wants to about the organization or whatever his current situation is, but the other 14 guys in the locker room have done nothing to him,” Cousins said, per James Herbert of CBS Sports (Twitter link). “So for us to be on the receiving end of some of the disrespectful comments and antics, it’s completely unfair to us.”
While Cousins was referring in part to Harden’s press conference on Tuesday, he made it clear that it’s not as if everyone was on the same page up until then.
“The disrespect started way before any interview,” Cousins said (Twitter link via Herbert). “Just the approach to training camp, showing up the way he did, the antics off the court. I mean the disrespect started way before.”
While other Rockets players who have addressed the Harden situation since Tuesday night weren’t quite as blunt as Cousins, Christian Wood acknowledged that the situation has “been going on since training camp” and said Harden’s comments hurt team chemistry (Twitter links via Herbert).
Wall, who spoke to reporters shortly after Harden did on Tuesday, expressed his frustration with his backcourt mate’s unwillingness to buy in.
“When the one through 15 guys are all on the same page… you all will be fine,” Wall said (video link via Bleacher Report). “But when you have certain guys in the mix that don’t want to buy in all as one, it’s going to be hard do anything special or do anything good as a basketball team.
“… It’s only been nine games. Like, come on, man, you’re gonna jump off the cliff off of nine games? There’s a lot of basketball still to be played.”
Head coach Stephen Silas was diplomatic about the situation, telling the media today that Harden “was nothing but professional” to him personally and calling the saga a “crazy NBA situation” (Twitter links via Herbert). With Harden away from the team, Silas said he’s focused on the other players on Houston’s roster.
“The reaction (to Tuesday’s comments) was less about what James said and more about the group, and how the group would feel about what he said,” Silas said, noting that he believes the Rockets are better than their 3-6 record suggests. “That was my main concern because that’s hard to hear. Especially when you don’t believe it and you know it not to be true.”
While it seemed for a time that the Rockets might drag out their Harden trade talks until the March deadline, it now appears likely that a deal will be completed this week.