If there’s any league that can turn into absolute chaos on a Wednesday afternoon, it’s the NBA.
The weeks of drama surrounding now-former Houston Rockets star James Harden finally came to an end with a blockbuster trade, sending him to the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets were one of the predicted landing spots, but the trade turned the league on its head when it became a four-team deal that sent Pacers guard Victor Oladipo to the Rockets.
With an already championship level roster, the Brooklyn Nets chose to go all-in for the former MVP Harden. Brooklyn pairs him with another former MVP Kevin Durant and all-star point guard Kyrie Irving. Between active players and future draft picks, the Nets dished out ten trade assets in exchange for Harden.
The Nets have a history of making big-time trades. In 2013 they gave up five players and three first-round draft picks for aging stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. That turned out to be a huge mistake for Brooklyn, who gifted Boston a bounty of lottery picks in the coming years.
Brooklyn is hoping the trade for Harden doesn’t backfire once more. The Nets have zero depth on their roster and it could easily backfire if they fail to win a championship immediately.
The trade is certainly risky, as Irving and Harden are both ball-dominant players who haven’t played well with other star players in the past like LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, respectively. Harden is also severely out of shape and Irving can’t seem to stay out of the drama, most recently being seen unmasked at a club for a birthday party during his extended leave of absence he took for “personal reasons.”
The Houston Rockets got plenty in return in the trade, and so did the Cleveland Cavaliers for playing such a small part in the deal. However, the Indiana Pacers made the most surprising splash.
Former IU star Victor Oladipo is on the move once again less than four years after his return to Indiana. The Pacers send Oladipo to the Houston Rockets, and get Nets guard Caris LeVert in return. In what some saw as a confusing move at first, the trade is highly beneficial for Indiana if you look past this season.
Oladipo is in the last year of his $85 million contract. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason, and Oladipo returning to the Pacers was very unlikely. Oladipo was third on the team in scoring through nine games, averaging 20 points per game. The Pacers are currently 7-4 and 2-0 without Oladipo on the floor.
LeVert is a much improved option for this Pacers squad long term. LeVert is two years younger than Oladipo and locked into a three-year, $52.5 million contract, which saves the Pacers $4.8 million this season and gives them flexibility without the luxury tax to worry about. Along with the team-friendly contract he brings, LeVert averaged 18.5 points per game and six assists while playing fewer minutes with Brooklyn than Oladipo did with Indiana.
The Pacers now have a core of young talent that will play great together as a team. With Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon and T.J. Warren each averaging at least 15 points per game alongside Myles Turner, this team can do special things after adding LeVert. Not only are the Pacers set up to be a great team this year, but they have one of the brightest futures in the NBA.
