With James Harden and Damian Lillard likely to be moved, why not look at a deal that gets this done in one fell swoop?
NBA free agency has opened, and a massive wave of moves have already been agreed upon that will be signed soon. With that in mind, there are still massive dominoes to fall, and most of them have to do with the NBA rumors in the trade market, not the signings in free agency.
We already knew coming into Saturday morning that the Sixers and James Harden are reportedly working together on a trade. Harden is opting into the final year of his contract with a handshake agreement in place for Philly to find him a new home.
Then, Saturday came with more superstar trade news: Damian Lillard, finally, formally wants out of Portland. He and the Trail Blazers have been together since the start of his career, and Lillard has stuck it out in the smaller market far longer than other stars have tolerated. But after Portland drafted Scoot Henderson with the third overall pick instead of trading that pick for an established star, it gave Lillard all the evidence he needed: His time with Portland is best cut short.
Additional context for us to consider: The Sixers are one of the teams interested in Lillard out of the gates, and the Clippers are interested in Harden, with preemptive approval from their two stars, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
From there, it’s easy to envision a world in which a three-team trade could come together. I’ve drafted a quick one, let’s take a look.