The Trade Broken Down
On January 14, 2021, the league was taken by storm as the Houston Rockets traded their franchise player, James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets made a statement to the league that they are willing to do whatever it takes to acquire the star talent needed to win NOW. Even if it meant sacrificing young guard Carris Levert and promising big man Jarett Allen. That brings us to today. The full details of the huge four-team deal are as follows:
- Rockets recieved: *Victor Oladipo, *Rodions Kurucs, *Dante Exum, 4 unprotected first-round picks (Brooklyn 2022, 2024 and 2026, Milwaukee 2022), and four unprotected first-round pick swaps (2021, 2023, 2025, 2027).
- Pacers Recieved: *Caris LeVert, 2023 second-round pick (via Houston)
- Nets recieved: James Harden
- Cavs recieved: Jarrett Allen, *Taurean Prince
* – no longer on team
What This Means
As you can see, most of the players that got moved in that deal are no longer on the team they were traded to, now including Carris Levert. That brings us to the point of this whole article. As breaking news has come out that James Harden potentially wants out of Brooklyn, it got me thinking. Did the Cleveland Cavaliers win the James Harden to Brooklyn trade?
The Cleveland Cavaliers thrived with the acquisition of Jarrett Allen. With the additional help of outstanding rookie Evan Mobley, the Cavs have been quietly dominating the Eastern Conference, with an outstanding record of 33-21 (as of writing this article) when they were projected to finish the season with just 22 wins at the beginning of the season.
The Breaking News
As a surprise to most of the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers made a huge splash in the trade market and moved Ricky Rubio and draft compensation for Carris Levert on February 6, 2022. This is a huge move for the Cavs as it addresses their biggest need for the team right now, which is having a player that can put the ball on the floor and get a bucket. Carris Levert is actually tenth in the ENTIRE NBA in drives to the cup (via NBA.com). This would make the Cavs starting 5 look something like this.
- PG: Darius Garland
- SG: Carris Levert
- SF: Isaac Okoro
- PG: Evan Mobley
- C: Jarrett Allen
This is the dream lineup for a team that plays the way the Cavs do. They’re doing something pretty unheard of in the league today by running two 7 footers in their starting lineup. The craziest thing is, they don’t play as the typical 7 footers. They can run the floor, defend 3-5, and as for Evan Mobley, he can even handle the ball and has a decent 3 point shot. The acquisition of Levert just adds another great threat for the lineup and can space the floor and drive to the cup at an elite level.
Even though the Cavs were initially looked at as a throwaway team in the Harden trade, as it turns out, they are the biggest winners, and potentially have the highest championship aspirations.
