but look at the CJ to NOP trade today, that had 7 players, right? The Norm trade had 5 players. The Sabonis trade was 6 players.

The Nets have Millsap, Griffin, Aldridge, and Johnson all expiring this year and while I guess they probably bring Blake and/or Johnson back, they’re gonna have open roster spots and they are dying to replace some of these terrible players with guys who can actually help on the court. A 3-for-1 like Norm/Morris/Reggie for Harden would actually be super clean and easy compared to the Chris Paul opt-in-and-trade where Houston had to give us 7 players to make the money work.

But, stars have more power than ever to get to where they want to go these days so I assume he’d find a way. One oddity though about Harden is his lack of an agent (at least for now). There is no pressure Harden’s agency can put on the Nets to get him to where they want since he doesn’t have an agent. We’ll see if that changes soon, as it sounds like he’s looking for an agent, but at least something to consider.

Forcing his way to a team in LA, usually the Lakers might be the more obvious destination, especially as Pelinka was his agent. If he does choose an agency, probably 50% shot it’s going to be Klutch too. But Lakers just don’t have any deal that I could see working. Nets aren’t taking back Russ for a KD and Russ reunion, no matter how bad they would want that or even how many draft picks the Lakers throw at them. Is their 2027 1st round pick and whatever 2nds they can throw at them worth the $47M they’d spend to buyout Russ? I assume not.

I feel like if the Clips made like Batum/Zu/Reggie available this deadline, along with the salaries of Morris and Luke, there is at least a package that can get the Nets on the phone. I guess the only issue there is like 5 player swaps don’t really happen in the NBA. Feels like the Nets have enough bad players they shouldn’t have a problem moving on from, that you might want to think about it.

Morris, Luke, Reggie, Batum, Zu for Harden, Millsap, James Johnson, and Jevon Carter or something, I think would give the Nets a legit shot at the title this year. I agree unlikely, and I would be hesitant to do that as the Clippers, but I mean sometimes you have to go for it right?