Last Thursday, the Brooklyn Nets traded James Harden, 2018 MVP and perennial all-star, to the Philadelphia 76ers for a couple role players, some picks, and Ben Simmons, who has not played a minute of basketball this season. Clearly, the 76ers won the trade.
Yet, at the same time, the 76ers traded Simmons, a 25-year-old All-NBA talent with three years left on his contract, Seth Curry, Philadelphia’s best shooter and an above-average starter, their serviceable backup center in Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks for Harden, who has quit on two teams in the past two seasons and is a free agent this offseason. Clearly, the Nets won the trade — wait a second.
Mere minutes after an NBA trade is announced, one team is declared the “winner” of the trade by everyone from Twitter users to beat writers. These assessments are obviously not the best indicator of who got the better end of a deal — usually, a winner of a trade cannot be named until years after the fact, when all facets of the deal play out. Even so, there is usually one team that gets the better of the other. Rarely is a deal a completely fair trade, or a win-win. This, however, is one of those trades.
Looking strictly at player and pick value, one can conclude that the Nets won. While they gave up a superstar in Harden, he’s clearly begun his decline, even if it is coming slowly, and he is on the final year of his deal. In addition, it was pretty apparent that Harden was already on his way out — he privately requested a trade to Philly and said he was unlikely to re-sign with Brooklyn this summer. Finally, his contract is massive: he can opt in to a $47.4 million player option in June, putting the 76ers salary cap under serious strain.
Simmons, while flawed, has already made an All-NBA team, finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting last season and has three years left on his deal after this season. They also got back Seth Curry, a career 44% three-point shooter averaging a career-high 15 points this season, and two first-round picks, which helps replenish their draft capital from their own Harden trade just a year ago. So, in pure value alone, the Nets won.
But when considering the 76ers’ circumstances, they won the trade as well. Giving up Simmons hurts a lot less when it seemed impossible that he would ever play for the team again, and has not played for the team this whole season due to mental health issues.
In addition, Philly swapped out Curry for Harden by giving up two first-round picks — now that’s a deal. This immediately puts the Sixers in a different tier than they were before. Harden steps in as the best guard — and perhaps player — that Philadelphia’s franchise player, Joel Embiid, has ever played with, plain and simple. With Embiid averaging the second most points per game in the league this season and generally playing at an MVP level, the Sixers cannot afford to waste this season. Keeping Simmons past his deadline would have done just that. Instead, Philadelphia added a former MVP and catapulted themselves into the inner circle of title contenders.
Clearly, both teams won. The Nets added another long-term piece whose slashing and passing mastery will be maximized with the plentiful shooting in Brooklyn’s lineup, while the Sixers became a true Finals contender with an All-NBA talent. The biggest winner of them all, though, is neither team — it’s actually Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey.
When Simmons first made it clear he would no longer play for Philadelphia, many clamored for Morey to move Simmons while he still could for fringe stars like CJ McCollum or D’Angelo Russell, thinking his value would tank once he stopped playing. Morey was mocked endlessly for asking every team for their best player and a cornucopia of draft picks in exchange for Simmons. Until this past week, most thought he would be content to keep Simmons through the trade deadline, essentially wasting a historic season from Embiid.
Despite the pressure from 76ers fans, sportswriters, and the public, Morey stayed patient. In the end, he flipped Simmons for another superstar, and not just any superstar — his guy, James Harden. Morey was always Harden’s most adamant supporter as they battled together in Houston for almost a decade, and now they’ve reunited with one of their best chances to win an NBA title. Everyone thought Daryl Morey would be this trade deadline’s biggest loser, but he ended up being its biggest winner.
Tim Brennan is a sophomore in the McDonough School of Business. Around the Association appears online and in print every other week.
