The dust finally settled on Harden's deal, he went where he wanted to go, and the Nets got the most out of the lack of buyer bidding. Although the chips paid in exchange for Harden last season are much inferior, with Harden's current physical fitness, competitive status and contract situation, it has been a success to be able to exchange such a return.
In fact, after several informal negotiations, the management of the Nets and Philadelphia almost reached a consensus to postpone the Harden and Bency deal until the end of the season. On the one hand, the Nets believe that as long as Durant returns, they still have a good chance to win the championship, and Durant himself does not want the team to trade Harden away; on the other hand, the Nets do not want to sell Harden at this time, they asked Philadelphia for two young players, Maxi and Sable, but the other side was unwilling, resulting in negotiations between the two sides can not continue.
At a time when both sides almost agreed that the deal could not be completed by the closing date, there were two important pieces of information that gave the deal a turnaround and that the Nets management eventually had to make a decision on the deal in advance.
First, harden's use of a free agent service leaked to the Nets management
Harden has been telling the Nets owner and management that he has no idea of leaving the Nets, telling them not to believe the rumors. However, he often discussed his intention to leave the team with various agents and third-party agents in private, and the information they discussed privately was quickly leaked to the Nets owners and management. It is reported that Harden is currently not signed to a brokerage company, so it is not surprising that his information has been leaked.
Second, Harden refused to play and returned to Houston early
Harden missed four consecutive games before the trade deadline, and injury reports showed that he had a strained arm, when in fact, an arm strain wasn't the whole reason he couldn't play. Before the trade deadline, Harden and management reached a no-game agreement, after which he left New York and returned to his home in Houston to wait for the result, such a move made the Nets management deeply feel that Harden was no longer in Cao Camp, and realized that even without a trade, Harden may be difficult to devote himself to the game in the second half of the season, and he can also jump out of the contract to leave the Nets as a free agent after the season.
It was these two reasons that forced the Nets management to negotiate with Philadelphia again, and after not being able to get one of the two young players, Maxi or Sable, the Nets asked the other side to send two first-round picks, which finally led to the deal.
After the Harden deal was reached, the Nets were very consistent, whether it was head coach Nash, or Nets players, from Durant, Irving, Mills to Griffin, etc., all the people interviewed about the deal did not discuss Harden too much, but said that the team got the people who wanted to play, can stabilize and continue to move forward!
The tone of these players in interviews almost all put the message suggesting that "Harden doesn't want to play for the Nets anymore", and Irving said in the interview: "We got the hint that Harden wanted to be traded"!
It can be said that although Harden did not spread the contradictions and did not take the initiative to force the palace to trade, his mood of wanting to be traded away has made the whole team feel this. There is no contradiction in the open, in fact, the Nets locker room is already secretly brewing. After Harden was traded, Durant blackfaceed the whole time in the All-Star selection process, and ignored Harden, even if he stayed in the last 2 places, he did not want to choose him, which has explained everything. At least Durant is very unhappy that Harden is being traded at this time!
After the transaction was completed, the US media also dug up a lot of negative information about Harden, which once again triggered a hot discussion:
1. FOX sports reporter Yaron Weitzman revealed that Harden wants the Nets' offense to revolve around him, just like in the Rockets period, but Durant and Nash don't agree, they want more people moving and the ball moving on the offensive end.
2) Harden sometimes criticizes his coaches and teammates at NBA insiders who sit on the sidelines watching the game.
3. Harden was seriously out of shape when he reported to the training camp before the start of the season, so that the management understood that the team was in big trouble.
4, teammates have not surprised Harden's nightlife, in the previous 5 consecutive guests in the West, Harden's nightlife and social activities made teammates not strange.
The breakup should be decent, a slap can not be heard, causing the two sides to part ways for a variety of reasons, the media at this time dug up Harden's negative information, most of which is based on the media people's attention-grabbing sensationalism. After all, when he came to the Nets last year, Harden was once called a labor model, and in the absence of the other two giants of the team, he led the team alone to bring the Nets to the top of the East. Some fans listed a comparison of Harden and Irving's appearances:
Harden came to the Nets for 385 days, played 80 games, and played a total of 2946 minutes;
Irving has been with the Nets for 836 days, played 85 games and played 2,930 minutes.
A comparison of the two data, Harden is not worthy of the Nets, which is right or wrong, I believe that fans will have a scale in their hearts!
Of course, all the dust has settled, and for Harden and the Nets, such an outcome is definitely positive! Harden went where he wanted to go and regained a chance to win the title that he thought would be better than at the Nets. The Nets, on the other hand, sent away a player who may have lost motivation by staying behind, in exchange for several players who seemed to be able to help the team more comprehensively.