Although the Nets had "Durant + Irving" at the beginning of last season, the team management was not satisfied with it, especially in the early part of the season when the team's record was not good. Finally, after some operation, the Nets got Harden as they wished without paying Durant and Irving, and forcibly formed a super big three combination.
However, even if a super big three combination is formed, due to the impact of injuries, the Nets only achieved the record of "the second in the East in the regular season + the second round of the playoffs" in the final game, and it is impossible to complete the goal of winning the championship before the start of the season.
21-22 season: Irving "part-time", Durant injury, the Nets once again need Harden to carry the flag?
After the failure of last year's playoff victory, in fact, the outside world and the Nets management did not lose confidence in the Nets' big three. On the contrary, most people still believe that as long as the Big Three can stay healthy in the new season, they have a better chance of winning the championship than the league's 29 teams.
Unexpectedly, in the new season, Irving was "banned" due to refusal of vaccines, and Harden was infinitely "weakened" due to hamstring injury + new regulations, resulting in a sharp decline in the overall strength of the Nets. If Durant hadn't overdrafted himself as early as he did in last season's playoffs, the Nets might have fallen out of the top eight of the division like the Lakers.
I thought that relying on Durant's "super god" play, the Nets can still easily guarantee the top three positions in the East this season. But it will always come - after overdrawing himself, Durant is still injured after all...
After Durant was injured again and Irving could only play in away games with relatively loose epidemic prevention regulations, if the Nets still wanted to play in the playoffs and still had thoughts about the championship, they could only rely on Harden like last season, expecting him to be able to carry the team and lead the Nets to stabilize the record.
But the new season has a certain decline, and watching the Nets fall into the same predicament as last season, this time Harden did not choose to compromise. Instead, in the previous game between the Nets and the Kings, in 2 of 11 in a single game, he only got 4 points, 7 boards and 12 assists, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the team to the Nets with inefficient offense.
It was thought that after Harden 's statement", the Nets would either persuade Irving to vaccinate and let the Nets return to full form; or trade Irving to help the team in other aspects of reinforcement. Unexpectedly, the Nets not only did not convince Irving or choose to trade Irving, but also did not reject the trade of Harden.
Recently, according to the famous Shams report: With the trade deadline approaching, Philadelphia is expected to start chasing Harden in the next few days, and the Nets are also considered open to opening Harden trade negotiations.
That is to say, even if Irving refuses the vaccine and cannot play full-time, he is not the Nets' primary trading partner. On the contrary, in the past two seasons, he has done his best for the Nets, and the injury has not yet fully healed, and Harden, who has played for the team with an injury, is more likely to be traded by the Nets...
So, the strength is not at one level at all, why would the Nets prefer to give up Harden and keep Irving?
From the perspective of the overall personal strength of Harden and Irving, with Harden's performance of 30+ points + MVP for three consecutive seasons, he and Irving, who is not the boss of the team + no personal hard honor, are actually not at the same level, regardless of strength or honor. So why would the Nets still prefer to give up Harden and keep Irving?
1. Harden is incompatible with the Nets' playing style + personal status declines. In the first round of last year's playoffs, the Nets Big Three played a very dominant series and easily advanced to the second round. Coupled with the 13-3 record when the Nets' big three are combined in the past two seasons, people mistakenly think that the nets' big three complement each other's advantages and can easily play a chemical reaction.
But in fact, Harden is not suitable for this Nets team, especially the Nets have Durant + Irving, two major singles masters, it is already doomed that there will be a lot of "single challenges" on the court, which will greatly damage the enthusiasm of Harden's organization and tandem teams.
And durant + Irving's shot, will inevitably affect Harden's offensive desire. After all, during the Rockets period, he also averaged 30+ points per game for three consecutive seasons, but now he wants to suppress his offensive desire and weaken into a 20+8+9 "point guard" star, which cannot maximize Harden's strength.
In addition, since the new season, due to the impact of new rules + injuries, although Harden has occasionally performed well, on the whole, he has not been able to play a superstar performance with serious declines, and the role of the Nets is not as important as last season. That is to say, as long as Durant + Irving can be retained, Harden will not be an indispensable player in the Nets in the new season.
2. Harden's contract problems. In the summer of 2017, the Rockets and Harden signed a four-year, $170 million early contract extension, in which Harden had player options for the 22-23 season. Originally, after Harden played a huge star performance last season and helped the Nets stabilize the second record in the East, the Nets had proposed to extend the contract early, but Harden refused.
And after Harden refused the contract, this also means that after the end of the new season, if the Nets' results are still not ideal, Harden has the opportunity to become a free agent. At that time, the Nets will also let Harden go in vain, facing a situation of two people and money.
It is also for this reason, in order to avoid the double money this summer - so in the case that Harden's contract has not expired, and it is uncertain whether to stay in the team or not, the Nets will choose to trade Harden.
3, Irving trading value is not high. Although so far in the new season, Irving still has 22.8 points, 4.6 boards, 4.8 assists, and a personal performance of 46.4% shooting. However, last season, he skipped the game from time to time, and in the new season, he resolutely refused the operation of the vaccine, but his trading value seriously declined.
For example, at the beginning of the new season, when Simmons refused to play for Philadelphia for personal reasons, there were rumors that Irving and Simmons were swapping, but in fact, even if Simmons lost such a combat power, Philadelphia was not willing to use him to exchange for Irving.
After all, no one knows what kind of chaos Will be caused by Owen when he comes to Philadelphia. And now, although Harden's overall data is not as good as before, in the eyes of most teams - the skinny camel is bigger than the horse, as long as he is given a certain amount of time, Harden still has a high probability of playing a superstar performance again.
In summary, due to the impact of "Harden's overall state decline + contract even if the contract expires + Irving's transaction value is not high", although Harden's overall strength + honor is better than Irving's, as long as it can be exchanged for a good chip, the Nets management will still choose to trade Harden, after all, today's Irving is really no one wants (unless the Nets are willing to suffer a big loss)...