The conventional wisdom was that this trade deadline would likely to be meh with the bigger moves expected around the NBA Draft come June. But the James Harden-for-Darius Garland deal, along with Tuesday\u2019s flurry of deals big and small, seems to have changed things.<\/p>\n
However, the original narrative still applies to the Brooklyn Nets who not only made no moves on Tuesday, but weren\u2019t even mentioned in any rumors, unless you count the recurring reports of league interest in Day\u2019Ron Sharpe, which now reportedly extends to the Lakers who saw him go for 19 and 14 Tuesday night or the Nets willingness to facilitate bigger deals for other clubs..<\/p>\n
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They don\u2019t seem to be that interested, at least for now, in Giannis Antetokounmpo which as Brian Lewis noted used to be their \u201cwhite whale.\u201d Nor do they seem willing to move Michael Porter Jr., who has publicly expressed a desire to stay in Brooklyn, interested in the franchise\u2019s \u201ctrajectory\u201d back to contention.<\/p>\n
The Harden deal will send him to his fourth team in the past five years after the Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, the Los Angeles Clippers and now the Cleveland Cavaliers. Before that, he left the OKC Thunder, in case you forgot. None of his departures seemed too happy. (If you add up all the teams the Big Three have played for over their careers, the number is now 14, five each for Harden and Kevin Durant, and four for Kyrie Irving. So much for loyalty.)<\/p>\n
The Harden news and Tuesday\u2019s other trades had some implications for the Nets.<\/p>\n
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Harden should give new life to the Cavaliers chances of making a deep run in the playoffs (although his talent is his talent, his record is his record as well and he\u2019s been criticized for not leading any of his teams to the promised land.) Another failure this spring could have a deleterious effect on the Cavs. With Donovan Mitchell staring at an off-season extension next year, he may want to move on and we know that at the very least, the Nets were interested in the now 29-year-old. \u201cThe key here is that the Cavs are moving away from believing in the Core 4,\u201d Brian Windhorst told\u00a0ESPN Cleveland<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think the genesis of this is because they\u2019re worried that Donovan is not going to re-sign this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Yesterday\u2019s other two moves, the Memphis Grizzlies and Boston Celtics blockbusters could have an effect on the Nets desire to have a facilitator role. Both of those deals created big exceptions, $28.8 million for the Grizz \u2014 the biggest in NBA history \u2014 and $27.7 million for the Celtics. Those two and another one of $18 million created by the Bulls in the three-team deal involving them, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons are all larger than the $15.3 million salary cap space the Nets retain. Cap space is better than TPEs, but the differences are not so big in the short term. The three exceptions will be available once the trades are official, which no doubt will be prior to Thursday\u2019s 3:00 p.m. ET deadline.<\/p>\n