Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. After Shams Charania reported last week that the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets were expected to engage in discussions around a James Harden-for-Ben Simmons deal ahead of Thursday’s deadline, he broke the trade less than 2 hours before the deadline:
BREAKING: The Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers are finalizing trade sending James Harden for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and draft picks, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 10, 2022
This represents the conclusion of a drawn out divorce between Ben Simmons and Philadelphia, while Harden gets what had become clear that he desired — a trade to the Sixers.
The deal will send Harden and disgruntled forward Paul Millsap to Philadelphia, while Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and draft compensation will go to Brooklyn.
After the trade, the community of NBA-obsessed Twitter users — from analysts to fans — reacted to the rapidly-developing deal: