The James Harden trade is done and, my goodness, what a haul it was for the Rockets.
They got four future first-round draft picks between the Nets and a 2022 Bucks first-rounder sent via the Cavaliers. On top of that, they got four pick swaps from the Nets, giving Houston full reign over Brooklyn’s draft capital until 2027.
This is the kind of stuff that kicks your rebuild into overdrive. They don’t even really need to tank anymore — they have the assets in place to retool their team without truly having to be bad.
Here’s a look at all of it in total.
Sources: Full current trade:
Rockets: Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, 3 BKN first-rounders (22, 24, 26), 1 MIL first (22, unprotected), 4 BKN 1st round swaps (21, 23, 25, 27)
Nets: James Harden
Pacers: Caris LeVert, 2nd-rounder
Cavs: Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 13, 2021
Man. That is a lot. But it’s par for the course with how we’ve seen the cost of star players in trades rising.
And that’s exactly why now is the time for the Wizards to move on from Bradley Beal.
The Wizards aren't moving Beal
Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
The Wizards aren’t thinking about moving Beal just yet. Ahead of the NBA draft, ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported that the Wizards weren’t interested in moving Beal unless he demands a trade.
“The Wizards have shown no inclination to trade Beal, sources say, and might do so only if Beal — under contract through at least 2021-22 — indicates he would prefer to play elsewhere. Could that happen at the trade deadline if the Wizards are bad again? Rivals are not giving up on Beal becoming available sooner.”
Whether that changes with the way things are looking remains to be seen. They don’t seem to have shifted this far. To this point, there’s no indication that the team is interested in trading him or that he’s actually looking to be traded.
But they should at least look into it
They’d be silly not to. Beal’s trade value probably won’t be any higher than it is today when he’s still got a season and a half left on his current deal. He’s the NBA’s current leading scorer at almost 35 points per game and is only 27 years old.
On top of that, the Wizards are just 3-8. Russell Westbrook is hurt and we have no idea when he’s coming back. NBC Sports Washington’s Quinton Mayo reports that some within the organization fear he could be out for the next month.
Sources: There is a fear within the Washington Wizards organization that PG Russell Westbrook has suffered a major setback in his quadricep. He is expected to miss at least 3-4 weeks of action.
— Quinton Mayo (@RealQuintonMayo) January 14, 2021
Their season is hanging on by a thread right now. Things are spiraling. It’s not a bad time to, at the very least, explore all options.
The market is going crazy right now
This sort of massive haul for first-round picks has become the norm when moving star players. Harden seems to be the pinnacle, but we’ve seen this happen four times now in the last year.
First, it happened with the Lakers grabbing Anthony Davis. Then with Paul George to the Clippers. Earlier this offseason we saw it happen with the Bucks and Jrue Holiday — a guy who hasn’t even made an All-NBA team in his career. Now we see it with James Harden.
And, somehow, The Athletic’s John Hollinger thinks Beal might have more trade value than Harden.
“More importantly, his trade value will never, ever be higher than right now, when he is still under contract for 18 more months and playing at an All-Star level. Between that, his age (27), and the snug fit of his perimeter game next to other star-caliber players, I’d argue that Beal actually might have more trade value than James Harden. The Wizards would be foolish not to explore this.”
So, yeah, Wizards. Maybe he wants to stay. Maybe he doesn’t. But if things stay on course the way they are? It’d probably be best for everyone to at least look into things and see what comes up.
