Rockets trade James Harden to Brooklyn Nets; acquire Victor Oladipo in subsequent deal

According to Woj and Ramona Shelburne, the Houston Rockets have given James Harden his wish and traded him to the Brooklyn Nets, with the Cleveland Cavaliers also involved as a third team.

The Rockets receive in return a package that includes Caris LeVert, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs in addition to four first-round picks, one of which comes from Cleveland via Milwaukee in 2022, along with four Nets picks swaps.

The Cavs will receive Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince.

The Rockets then turned around and flipped LeVert for Victor Oladipo.

The Nets were competing with the Philadelphia 76ers for Harden, and the Rockets were after a package that included Ben Simmons, Tyrese Maxey, and Matthysse Thybulle along with picks, but the 76ers were reportedly balking at including Maxey, and the Houston GM pulled the trigger on the huge offer from Brooklyn.

It’s the end of an era in Houston, as Harden led the Rockets to their most successful period since the Hakeem Olajuwon days, but it ends on a sour note, and it’s now time for the Rockets to rebuild.

Without a superstar and in a stacked Western Conference, Houston is now in full rebuild mode and I’m excited to see what Stone can do with a whole bunch of ammunition.

While it’s sad to see Harden go out like a punk, at the end of the day, I’m a Rockets fan first and foremost, and a Harden fan second, so all I can say is see ya, it’s been real. Hope you find what you’re looking for. Yes, it’s like a breakup.

The positive side is I have full faith in Stone to do this, and at least I’ll likely get to pick in the SB Nation NBA mock draft this offseason.

We’ll have more coverage of the big deal in the next 24 hours, so keep checking back!

UPDATE: Here’s the final deets of the deal.