NBA trade rumors are going bonkers right now including a proposed trade between Brooklyn and Philly involving a James Harden for Ben Simmons swap among other moving parts.
These are fun scenarios for the NBA trade machine, Twitter and water-cooler talk, but none of it is grounded in reality.
The Nets are not looking to trade Harden, especially in exchange for a player who disappeared in last year's playoffs and has hid behind the stigma of a "mental health" problem to force his way out of Philadelphia.
Yes, Simmons is six years younger than Harden, a more willing defender, more athletic and with tons of upside, but he also brings lots of baggage, a mental block when it comes to perimeter shooting and won't reach anything near his potential until after Kevin Durant is past his prime.
The Nets are a win-now club that needs Durant to take the next 4-6 weeks to heal from his MCL sprain and either Kyrie Irving to decide to comply with local vaccine mandates and become eligible to play full-time or those said mandates are relaxed (assuming the country enters more of an "endemic" phas) to this health crisis) and he returns in a full capacity.
Harden and Irving are both set to become free agents at the end of the year, but it's clear that both want to return and likely finish their respective careers in Brooklyn.
The last thing Sean Marks will do is make a panic move and ship out either player in the midst of a championship quest.
The Nets need health, luck and continuity on their side and need to fix issues inside the organization before giving up on core pieces for a younger, more unproven commodity.
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