Nets acquire James Harden in four-team trade, Rockets get Victor Oladipo and four first-round picks

Houston Rockets’ guard James Harden had been expressing frustration with that franchise and pushing for a trade for a while, making that particularly explicit with comments that the team was “just not good enough” and “I don’t think it can be fixed” after a 117-100 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night (seen above). In that loss, Harden scored 16 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field (31.3%) and 1-of-6 shooting from three-point range (16.7%). Well, on Wednesday, Harden got his wish to leave Houston, doing so thanks to a four-team megatrade. Here’s more on that from Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:

James Harden hired Jason Ranne and Chafie Fields from Wasserman to secure a trade for him. They worked closely with the Rockets and all teams involved to secure the deal. Wasserman also represented Russell Westbrook and worked closely with the Rockets on his trade to Wizards. https://t.co/4LG0hC5wmz

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 13, 2021

The Rockets are expanding the deal to send Caris LeVert to the Pacers for Victor Oladipo, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 13, 2021

Houston GM's Rafael Stone's return of picks — including four unprotected first and four unprotected pick swaps — is one of the strongest draft packages in league history. Oladipo's on an expiring contract and Rockets can make a decision on moving forward with him.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 13, 2021

Here’s the full overview of that from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium:

Sources: Full current trade:

Rockets: Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, 3 BKN first-rounders (22, 24, 26), 1 MIL first (22, unprotected), 4 BKN 1st round swaps (21, 23, 25, 27)

Nets: James Harden

Pacers: Caris LeVert, 2nd-rounder

Cavs: Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 13, 2021

And ESPN’s Tim Bontemps had quite the note on the Nets’ picks:

After making this deal, the Nets will have traded away control of their first round pick in all but one season between 2014 and 2027. The one season they had their pick, they took … Jarrett Allen, who they have traded in this same deal. https://t.co/uYSxWXzaPX

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 13, 2021

So this is definitely a move by the Nets to win now, and a move by the Rockets to try and build for the future. We’ll see how it works out for both of these teams, as well as for the Cavs and Pacers.

[ESPN; photo from Troy Taormina/USA Today Sports]