2. The Nets Would Have To Trade Nearly All Of Their Draft Capital

The Rockets made it clear to everyone around the league that they want to acquire as much draft capital as they can in exchange for the players on their roster, which they did with Robert Covington. They acquired two first-round picks in exchange for the 29-year-old forward and will expect a lot more draft assets for players like James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

Not to mention that the Rockets are very much aware of the deal the Pelicans just got for Jrue Holiday, who is not close to being on the same level as Harden.

Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that the Milwaukee Bucks were sending three first-round picks, as well as two pick-swaps to the Pelicans, along with two key players in exchange for Holiday, a one-time All-Star and two-time All-Defensive player.

If that is what the Pelicans received for a player of Holiday’s stature, can you imagine what the asking price for Harden would be? The Nets might as well say goodbye to any chance of having a valuable first-round pick over the course of the next five NBA Drafts, because acquiring Harden would mean all of those picks go to the Rockets. 

If they are lucky, the asking price for Harden would be two key players like Dinwiddie and LeVert, as well as five first-round picks, but if we are being completely honest, nobody is worth five first-round picks because of how valuable it is to bring in young, talented players. By trading away those picks, the Nets would be all-in on Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Harden staying with the Nets for at least the next three seasons and not only delivering one championship, but numerous championships over that span. 

Not to mention, the Nets would be paying Durant, Kyrie, and Harden over $360M over the course of the next three years, putting them way over the NBA salary cap and likely over the tax threshold, meaning ownership would be paying millions of dollars to have this team compete.

Just to put it in perspective of how much money the Nets would have to pay their star players if they did acquire James Harden; the NBA salary cap this season is $109.1M and if it stayed the same (which it won’t) for the next three seasons, that would make the three-year salary cap $327.3M. Hence, the Nets would be $32.7M over the salary cap over the course of the next three years, which is crazy seeing that this only equates for three players. 

Financially and draft wise, the Nets would be putting all of their faith in Durant, Kyrie, and James Harden never getting injured over the next three seasons and in the hopes that this team would win at least two of the next three NBA titles. That is way too much to hope for and put the entire organization’s future on the line for, which is why acquiring Harden would not be in favor of Brooklyn.