James Harden got what he wanted — and the NBA world flipped out.
Harden had been pushing for a trade out of Houston to Brooklyn since before the season started, but the two teams could not find common ground. The sides were not even close a week ago. But things picked up a lot of momentum in the last few days, and Wednesday a massive four-team trade went down, sending Harden to the Nets, Caris LeVert to Indiana, Jarrett Allen to Cleveland, and four unprotected first-round picks, and four pick swaps, to Brooklyn.
Well that escalated quickly 😳😳
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) January 13, 2021
NBA players and the rest of the world reacted to the Harden trade on Twitter, led off by The Beard’s new/old teammate Kevin Durant.
Congrats to my new teammate James Harden
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) June 26, 2009
Woah😂
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) January 13, 2021
That’s a lot of firepower in Brooklyn https://t.co/6JIi5YxM7k
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) January 13, 2021
Wow 😱🤯...
— THAD YOUNG (@yungsmoove21) January 13, 2021
CJ McCollum has his priorities in order.
Right before my nap huh . Most entertaining sport in the business
— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) January 13, 2021
Cleveland’s Larry Nance Jr. noticed the Cavaliers star backcourt will be surrounded by big men Andre Drummond, JaVale McGee, and now Allen.
Sexland is now surrounded by trees
— Larry Nance (@Larrydn22) January 13, 2021
Steve Nash’s reaction to coaching Harden and Kyrie Irving at the same time (hat tip Alex Kennedy of BasketballNews.com).
Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash: "I certainly feel excited by the challenge... Overall, I think I'm used to a certain amount of duress and adversity, and I welcome it. That's when we learn the most about ourselves and grow and find the most improvement." pic.twitter.com/llFbTMSRvM
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) January 13, 2021
Meanwhile, the rest of the NBA world was having fun with it.
The Nets trying to figure out who will take the last shot 😂 pic.twitter.com/SgucITdbfA
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 13, 2021