The rapid decline of the Brooklyn Nets is not something people saw coming this soon. They entered the season with high hopes, having a Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. Brooklyn was among the favorites to win the NBA Championship behind that trio, but things quickly fell apart.
Irving was deemed ineligible because of vaccination mandates in New York and he remained unvaccinated. That left Durant and Harden to carry the load until the Nets changed course and let Irving back for road games.
By that point, Harden was already checking out. He would eventually be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, joining his third team in just over a year. Durant suffered a sprained MCL and the team plummeted in the standings.
All in all, it resulted in the Nets finishing with a record of 44-38 and in the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference. They had to play in the NBA Play-In Tournament, ultimately defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers, setting up a first-round series with the Boston Celtics that didn’t last very long.
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Brooklyn was the only team to not win a game in the first round, getting swept 4-0. Their offseason is beginning earlier than anyone would have thought, as there is a good amount of work to do. The roster needs some upgrades andKyrie Irving’s player option is one hurdle to figure out.
While the Nets are hoping they can get things back on track, there is one team certainly hoping the dysfunction continues. That team is the Houston Rockets, who stand to benefit the most from Brooklyn falling apart faster than anyone could have predicted.
On January 13th, 2021, the Rockets signaled that they would be entering a rebuild. They traded Harden to the Nets as part of a four-team deal that also included the Indiana Pacers and Cavaliers.
The Brooklyn Nets said goodbye to Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, Taurean Prince, Rodions Kurucs, and brought in Harden. Also part of the deal, they sent SEVEN first-round draft picks to the Rockets, who also picked up an eighth first-rounder from the Cavaliers.
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Harden played all of 80 regular-season games and nine postseason games for a team that surrendered seven first-round picks outright and in swaps to acquire him. There is a chance this backfires as spectacularly as Billy King’s deal with the Boston Celtics did, and the Rockets are certainly hoping it plays out the same way.
When the trade was consummated, the Houston Rockets got crushed by some people, which at the time, was warranted. Out of the six players involved, Houston traded away the best one and got back the fifth and sixth best ones, neither of whom are even in the NBA right now. Dante Exum is playing for FC Barcelona in EuroLeague and Kurucs is playing in Serbia and ABA League.
We always want to grade trades immediately, but this was one that’s full scope wasn’t going to be felt for a few years. Not even two years later, the Rockets are looking like they are going to come away from this deal just fine.
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Houston has a star in the making in Jalen Green, the No. 2 overall pick from the 2021 NBA Draft. Another top pick will be added to the roster in the 2022 NBA Draft, as Houston is hoping to add another blue-chip prospect to the mix.
There could be plenty more draft picks coming down the pipeline courtesy of the Brooklyn Nets as well. At the time of the trade, most of those draft selections looked like they would be close to the end of the first round, as the Nets looked like perennial contenders with their Big 3.
But, this year’s draft pick is coming in at No. 17 overall, three outside of the lottery. If this season was a sign of things to come, the Houston Rockets are going to be flush with more attractive draft picks than anyone originally thought they would.
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That puts them in an excellent position to not only load the roster up with high-upside young players but will give them the ammunition to swing blockbuster trades for stars that may want a change of scenery once they are in a position to start competing consistently.
