It appears the Brooklyn Nets have their opening if they intend to make a move on James Harden.
After reporting the Rockets are “willing to get uncomfortable” with both Harden and Russell Westbrook going into the season, Tim MacMahon of ESPN said on the Brian Windhorst and The Hoop Collective podcast Houston is getting ready to move on.
“The sense I get from the Rockets is that their ambition, their goal, their hope is no longer about salvaging the relationship with James Harden and kind of getting him on board,” MacMahon said. “There’s a realization, you know, his mind is made up. He wants out and there is a determination to say ‘Okay, we get it.’ This happens in the NBA, but just because James Harden wants out doesn’t mean he gets to dictate where and for what [he’s traded].
But that doesn’t mean Harden gets to pick where he plays next. MacMahon laid out what the Rockets are looking for on Windhorst’s Podcast:
“A package for Harden, and listen, this thing has accelerated a lot faster than I anticipated it would. These things are all fluid. We understand that. What the Rockets are saying is ‘We need a young franchise cornerstone type of player and a Jrue Holiday-like package of picks. That’s where conversations have to start.’ And do you see a young franchise cornerstone caliber player on the Nets? Do you consider Caris LeVert either young or a franchise cornerstone?”
As much as Brooklyn may be where Harden wants to be, the Nets still have to find a way to convince the Rockets to hand him over.