Top Ten Reasons James Harden Trade was Bad

I think we need to understand the magnitude of this trade. The Rockets just gave up their franchise player, an MVP, a franchise-changing talent. And they flip him just like that. You still had a chance for a championship. This is, in my opinion, lazy GMing by the Rockets. If Harden has issues with the franchise, talk to him! The best way to approach this would have been to bring in more role players and get John Wall going.

Instead, the Rockets refused. They got Oladipo, who is very injury-prone, to go with Wall, who is also very injury-prone, to go with Cousins, who is also very injury-prone. Sure, they got a lot of draft picks, but they have to nail those draft picks. They're not just going to be handed good players.

There is only one ball. You have three ball-dominant players. Kyrie Irving and James Harden are most definitely ball-dominant. Kevin Durant is very good off-ball, but to fully maximize Durant, he needs to be off-ball. There will definitely have to be sacrifices. I know Kyrie and Durant will sacrifice touches, but I don't know about Harden.

Think about how many big men the Cavs already have: Andre Drummond, JaVale McGee, Larry Nance Jr., and Kevin Love. Now add in Jarrett Allen. I believe Jarrett Allen is better than all those guys, but now you have an overload.

The Pacers basically traded Oladipo for someone who could eventually reach Oladipo's skill level someday. They didn't do anything too bad, and I like the LeVert and Brogdon combo, but it doesn't make a big impact.

Brooklyn gave up two huge role players in this trade. They lost both Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen. Both were very good defensively, and LeVert had 6th Man of the Year potential. Their bench is pretty depleted now.

It brings a team that almost went to the finals three years ago and lost to the championship team last year in the playoffs. That is great, not bad. That is when you press even harder.

With a new big three in the East, they will have little to no competition. Maybe the Sixers, Bucks, and possibly the Celtics. Otherwise, they will go to the Finals. It's not as bad as the Warriors, but it's pretty bad.

With Caris LeVert getting his diagnosis, he will probably be out for a long while. They got Taurean, who is a rotation player at this point, and two second-round picks. Is that worth Oladipo?

You have three bad defenders in the starting lineup, arguably the worst defenders in the league with Kyrie, James Harden, and Joe Harris.