Brooklyn Nets acquire James Harden for Caris LeVert, picks

The Brooklyn Nets are shaking it up by trading for disgruntled superstar James Harden in a four-team deal.

The Brooklyn Nets are acquiring James Harden in a blockbuster four-team trade according to multiple reports. The three-time scoring champion will come to Brooklyn, Caris LeVert is off to the Indiana Pacers, and Victor Oladipo is heading south to the Houston Rockets.

The Nets are sending away four first-round picks and four pick swaps in the deal. The Athletic’s Shams Charania has the full details of this earth-shattering trade.

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

The major casualties in this deal in the short-term are LeVert, Jarrett Allen, and Taurean Prince. All three were rotational players who played key roles for Brooklyn.

The picks and pick swaps could come back to haunt the franchise down the road, but this is a team that is in “win-now” mode to the nth degree.

Kevin Durant and James Harden, when healthy and motivated, are two of the five best players in the NBA. If and when Kyrie Irving returns to the team, that is the best big three in the entire league.

The problem for Brooklyn is going to be figuring out how to build the rest of the team around those three. The trio of outgoing rotation players plus the injury to Spencer Dinwiddie leaves the Nets shorthanded on the roster.

General manager Sean Marks pulled off the blockbuster deal to acquire Harden. Now it’s up to him to find enough depth to fill out the edges of the roster.