Recently, there has been a lot of news about Harden and Simmons swapping owners this summer, and even Harden himself has "slipped" and praised. It's just that Harden's replacement of Simmons is not so easy, and the Nets may not be willing to break up the Big Three lineup, and the US media has written an article detailing the 3 reasons why such a deal cannot happen.
3) Owen's problem or solved in another way
According to a number of US media reports, Harden may change teams after the end of this season, among many reasons, the influence of Irving as a "part-time player" has become an unavoidable topic. Harden hasn't spoken to Irving about vaccinations, and it's likely that some sort of solution to the problem will be found in July. If the Nets still win the NBA championship despite Irving's part-time player, then this problem will naturally be solved. If the Nets win the championship, Nets owner Chua Chongxin and his club may also think, "Let's go back and look at it, maybe one day the local epidemic prevention regulations will change, but before we can still win and win the championship." ”
If the Nets don't perform well and could lose a crucial home game while Irving doesn't qualify for the game, it could frustrate everyone so much that the Nets' management decided they simply couldn't offer the biggest contract extension for part-time players. In this case, they may not renew Irving's contract, but build a team around Durant and Harden. In this case, the Nets should have chosen to keep Harden instead of Irving.
2) Harden may have a hard time rejecting a five-year, $270 million extension
The New York Post's Brian Lewis reported in September that "if Harden waits until the end of the season, he can re-sign and break the NBA's all-time record with a staggering $5-year, $270 million contract extension." ”
A team without Harden bird rights can only offer Harden a 4-year contract with a 5% raise, and the Nets can offer a 5-year paycheck of 8%. If the $119 million pay cap goes into effect, it means that a team like Philadelphia could offer Harden up to 35 percent of the pay cap, which will reach about $180 million in four seasons, but still about $90 million less than the Nets' one-year contract extension.
1) Durant is the perfect partner for Harden
Who is better suited than Durant to win the championship with a partner? The US media believes that Harden is not unhappy at present. Durant's final season with the Golden State Warriors was clearly disgusting at times, but we haven't seen that sign from Harden yet.
Embiid is not a point player who likes to position himself outside the three-point line, Harden is always known for his high hanging ball threat in blocking and demolition games, and Embiid's advantage is not as a blocking player, but as a singles big man, and Durant's combination with Harden is undoubtedly more appropriate.
It's hard to imagine a team that could provide Harden with a better title-contending partner than Durant. Back in their days in Oklahoma, the two superstars have nothing left before them. No matter what happens to Irving, Harden and Durant want to go together to win the championship. It is not difficult to see that Harden's deal with Simmons is an unlikely thing to happen.