Along with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving were supposed to be part of a once-in-a-generation NBA super team with the Brooklyn Nets.
In the end, those three only played a handful of games together and quickly grew apart.
Between Irving’s benching because of him not getting the COVID vaccine and injuries to both Harden and Durant, the Nets never played like they should have.
It got so bad that Harden grew wildly unhappy and demanded a trade – a power play that landed him on the Philadelphia 76ers a few weeks ago.
James Harden really requested a trade to a worse team because of Kyrie’s part-time status, only for the part-time status to be removed right after the trade 😭
— Guru (@DrGuru_) February 23, 2022
As one Twitter user points out, it’s all a little ironic because now that Irving is likely to return to the Nets full-time, Harden just left the team right as it was about to be in its best shape yet.
The Team That Could Have Been
The Irving-Harden-Durant Nets will always be a point of interest in the history of the NBA.
That’s because the lineup had such potential but it never really panned out.
Injuries constantly plagued the team and the Irving vaccination situation only made it worse and didn’t allow the team to deliver on its true potential.
This upset Harden – understandably so – but if he stuck around a bit longer, he would have finally gotten to be part of the team he wanted.
The stakes have been raised in a very personal way because Harden will now be huge competition to his old team as he starts his run with the 76ers.
So instead of playing together for a title, the super team is now split up and playing against itself.
Because of this, you can bet that future 76ers-Nets games will be ones to watch.
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