James Harden is a Los Angeles Clipper, and boy, is this thing funny.
The NBA is a drama that plays out in front of millions, and often, the best dramas are comedies. With Harden’s history of trade demands; the Clippers’ history of, well, being the Clippers; and the various actors involved here, there’s a lot to enjoy about the trade.
In no particular order, here are the seven funniest things about the James Harden trade:
1. The Clippers doubled down on guys who have questionable availability
Do you know what you should do when your key problem, by your own admission, is that you “haven’t taken the regular season seriously” enough? You should trade for a player who has had three trade demands in four years and a major injury and who is 34 and seeking to stay healthy for a new contract.
Harden has repeatedly missed time due to trade demands and conditioning issues, so he’s a perfect fit next to the team that became synonymous with load management.
If Harden doesn't like the fit and doesn't think he'll get the contract he feels he missed out on from the Sixers, will he stay? Will we just be doing this again in three months as he keeps searching for a team to give him a big-money contract into his late 30s?
READ MORE: Matt Moore breaks down the James Harden-to-Clippers trade
There is a non-zero chance, based on their histories, that we will get to April, and Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Harden will all be missing from the court for various reasons, leaving poor Russell Westbrook once again to try and manage the load by himself.
For a team that never takes the regular season seriously, bringing on Harden, notorious for his penchant for after-hours entertainment, is extremely funny.
2. LA built the perfect team from 2014
Kawhi Leonard was Finals MVP in 2014. James Harden was on the cusp of starting five straight years of top-5 MVP candidacy. Russell Westbrook and OKC were contenders every year. Paul George and the Pacers were the best team in the East that season.
Back in 2014, this team was stacked.
It should be noted that was NINE years ago.
Players always want to team up with players who they battled against and who were at their peaks when they were. They don't recognize the changes in those players, just as they don't see their own declines.
League sources have told Action Network for months that Paul George and Kawhi Leonard wanted Harden added to the roster. This was a move from them. So you have this very 1996 Rockets attempt to create the magic from their 20s for players closer to the end of their careers than the start. It might work, but it's wild to see a team building for what was instead of what is.
3. Both Daryl Morey and Sam Presti have now traded Russell Westbrook twice and James Harden twice
In Oklahoma City, Presti traded Harden to Houston when they couldn't agree on an extension. He dealt Westbrook to Houston when they decided to rebuild. In Houston, Morey dealt Westbrook to Washington and Harden to the Nets when Harden asked to be traded. Morey traded Ben Simmons for Harden in Philadelphia. And now Morey has traded Harden again to the Clippers, with the help of … Sam Presti, who provided the additional draft pick for the Clippers to send to Philly.
Presti and Morey are, in some ways opposite sides of the same very smart coin, and it's hilarious that they have both been the men behind the curtains on trades, sending these future Hall of Famers to and fro across the country.
I am now actively rooting — after this Clippers experiment fails — for Westbrook and Harden to either re-sign or be traded back to Oklahoma City, where they began their careers.
4. James Harden got his way — again
How many times is this guy going to ask out and still wind up going where he wants?!
Bear in mind that as someone who very openly advocated for his 2017 and 2018 MVPs, I know how great Harden was five years ago. But that time’s gone. He still led the league in assists last season and won the Sixers two games in their series vs. Boston (to Joel Embiid’s zero). But he also has bailed and openly quit vs. multiple teams.
He made things miserable for the Rockets before his departure and then called Morey — the man who has stuck by him and advocated for him more than any other person in the league — a liar during a promotional tour overseas.
And the end result of all this for a player who has played in one Finals, back in 2012 and off the bench with OKC, is that he once again goes to his preferred destination. It’s like watching someone not show up to work and flame out, but before he’s fired, he calls up another friend and gets them to bring him on for more money.
On one level, it’s ridiculous. On another, is Harden a genius? Has he mastered the work-life balance by constantly working where he wants, when he wants, for the money he wants, and never spending a second anywhere he doesn’t want to play anymore?
The Ultimate Loud Quitter, James Harden.
5. Russell Westbrook is back with James Harden — again
The Thunder struggled to maintain balance with Harden and Westbrook, with Westbrook trying to drive through defenses like a muscle car through water barrels and Harden dissecting them with passing. Then Harden had Chris Paul shipped out (just as he had Dwight Howard moved on) in exchange for Westbrook.
Westbrook and Harden were fine in Houston. They went 44-28 in the COVID-shortened season before flaming out and being run over by the bigger Lakers in the playoffs.
But the fact that they wind up playing together repeatedly is pretty funny, especially given that both are primarily incalcitrant and stubborn about the way they play. Harden is going to play like Harden, and Westbrook is going to play like Westbrook, and we’re probably going to wonder why Paul George doesn’t get the ball more.
6. The Furkan Korkmaz Addendum
A questionable report surfaced that Korkmaz, who requested a trade last February, wanted to be in the deal and wasn't.
Korkmaz has wanted out of Philadelphia for years, but no one’s knocking down the door to acquire him. The fact that what feels like 18 players were moved in this deal, and Korkmaz wasn’t one of them, is amusing.
7. This could all end next year
George, Leonard, Westbrook and Harden are all unrestricted free agents. Now, George and Leonard have clarified that LA is where they want to be, and there’s no real reason to think they’ll sign elsewhere unless the team decides to go in a different direction. All four players are originally from California, a nice wrinkle.
But if things go badly, the possibility that they constantly liquidated and leveraged against their future to get a team that just up and left would be a fantastic failure, even if it would be pretty sad given what Clippers fans have endured.
