That reported Brooklyn offer is pennies on the dollar imo. I think Harden is worth at least 3 first rd picks and a young future star with no injury concerns. No way I'm trading a guy who has consistently dominated (in the regular season) for peanuts. What would you ask for in a Harden trade?
a young star locked under contract, salary filler composed of good rotation players on good deals, and multiple unprotected 1st round picks and pick swaps
AD brought in Ball, Hart, Ingram, number 4 overall pick and 3 more unprotected firsts. That’s the baseline.
One thing has to be the starter in the package and that's a piece which can become a franchise player so, either a top pick or a rising star.
Harden is pretty much worth anything we want. Multiple young stars, picks, you name it. But honestly, if Harden is leaving I'd prefer to just let him walk for free and let him get a championship. Harden is the only thing keeping this train wreck together at this point. If we're gonna rebuild, the point is to clear out the rotten parts of the team and start fresh. Unfortunately, the most rotten part of this team is the hardest to get rid of: the owner. If, at the other end of this rebuild, Tillman still owns the team, it doesn't matter who we get from the Harden trade be it Simmons or Tatum or even Luka, it'll all be for nothing. Given that, I'd rather bottom out and have a process style worst-team-in-the-league-for-years rebuild just to bleed Tillman out. Even if it may hurt for a while, as long as he sells the team we can start to be a good franchise again.
Simmons, Thybulle, multiple 1st round picks. I actually like the idea of packaging Gordon/Harden and getting Horford back as part of the deal. Salary commitment would be a little larger but Horford's deal expires a year earlier than Gordon's and he fits well with Simmons as a big that can shoot.
I've said it before... The equivalent of Ben Simmons + the #1 overall pick in the draft. ( this part could be broken up into 3-4 frp's ranging from 3-14)
The key difference here is the years left on Harden's contract. This isn't an Anthony Davis or Kawhi Leonard situation where it was clear that they were one-year rentals who were going to Los Angeles no matter what happened. Any team that trades for Harden is getting two years of MVP-level play with a chance to sell him on a third with his player option. That warrants an all-in trade and the Rockets do not need to give in to any "demand" or "desire" to go to Brooklyn. If Sacramento calls and mortgages their future for Harden? I hope he likes purple and silver. He does not get to dictate where he goes. Not after all of this.
He's worth more than what any team who can trade for him is willing to give us. Basically the best deal out there is probably Ben Simmons, Thybulle, at least 4 future picks. Even with this package, we're losing the trade.
Simmons, Thybulle and two unprotected future first-round picks from Philadelphia Jaylen Brown, Smart or Hayward for Harden from Boston, or Brown, #14 and another unprotected first or two Siakam, re-signed VanVleet for Harden, or Siakam, Lowry and an unprotected first Herro and Adebayo from Miami LeVert, Allen and a truckload of unprotected firsts from Brooklyn
Yeah, there is no "winning" in our future for a long, long time. But, if we're stuck with an owner who refuses to spend around the margins to build a championship roster and disgruntled superstars, I am in favor of tearing it down. No premier free agent is joining this nightmare and we lose a lot of value if we wait to trade Harden next season. I don't know if any of our insiders can fill us in about league-wide perceptions, but it seems that other stars don't like playing with Harden if they don't have previous experience with him. LeBron and Giannis always pick him last in the All Star draft. So, what's the avenue to winning a championship if we can't attract another star, our owner won't spend into the tax and history shows that Harden disappears in the playoffs against elite talent? Don't forget that we don't have any draft picks thanks to his Russ trade. If you want to rebuild, it has to start now.
Any future firsts from a team that acquires Harden will be crappy picks 26-31 due to Harden. Morey knew this and hopefully Raffy does too.