The James Harden saga ramped up quickly and then came to an abrupt end, with a reported trade being completed in the same amount of time it took the Flyers to score six goals against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.

In the end, the Sixers didn’t get the disgruntled 31-year-old Rockets star, who instead went to Brooklyn in a blockbuster, behemoth of a four-team trade.

In addition to claiming four first round draft picks from Brooklyn, Houston flipped Caris LeVert to Indiana for Victor Oladipo and moved Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince to Cleveland.

The final deal, while not yet official, looks like this::

That’s a lot for the Nets to give up. And when you look at their depth chart now, it’s DeAndre Jordan at center with an injured Nic Claxton behind him on the depth chart. It’s a guard and wing-heavy lineup with not a lot of interior presence, which should benefit Joel Embiid and the Sixers on the offensive end. The question is whether Philly has enough bodies to account defensively for Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving (if he feels like playing), and the answer is probably no.

The other question is whether or not the Sixers were close to a deal, and at the Inquirer, Keith Pompey says yes, they were:

Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle were even informed by their agents on Wednesday of a potential trade, according to sources. A league source said the Sixers were going to send Simmons and Thybulle to the Houston Rockets in exchange for the three-time scoring champion. Houston also asked for Tyrese Maxey and draft picks, according to sources. However, a source close to the Sixers denied that Maxey was part of the deal.

A source close to the situation came back and said the Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta was never going to send Harden to Philly unless he got Simmons, Thybulle, Maxey and two picks.

That being reported from Keith, here are some quick takeaways on the move:

  1. People were on Twitter talking about Tyrese Maxey as if he’s the second-coming of Manu Ginobili, claiming they absolutely would not included him in a trade for James Harden. That’s ridiculous. Acting as if a rookie with 12 games of experience under his belt is untouchable is waaaaay too much. People similarly complained when the Sixers moved Landry Shamet, and then quickly forgot about it, because we tend to live in the moment and overvalue the things that are right in front of our face. Don’t get me wrong; Maxey has been really good so far, and his ceiling looks to be much higher than Shamet’s but he is not remotely close to being untouchable when you are packaging assets for a generational star. It’s a superstar’s league, not a league where rookie backup point guards are the prized possession.
  2. That said, Simmons, Thybulle, Maxey AND picks probably would have been too much. Elton Brand might have done that deal. Luckily for Sixers fans, Daryl Morey is in charge now and isn’t going to allow himself to be fleeced.
  3. I keep hearing a lot of people talk about a move for Bradley Beal now that Harden is off the table. Beal is a fantastic player and a younger player but let’s not act like he’s on the same level as James Harden. Beal, however, is a much better fit for Embiid than Simmons, and if that deal is doable without giving up a package similar to what Houston wanted, then you should definitely consider it. Beal is still only 27 years old and would be a really nice fit here.
  4. Are we sure that the Harden/Durant/Irving trio is going to work in Brooklyn? That is a lot of usage for three guys. As Mike Groh once famously said, “there is only one ball.”
  5. Harden is an all-timer, but people who are not into heavy iso and pick and roll find his game boring. A Harden/Embiid combo would have gone to the foul line 30+ times per game, which would have been incredibly efficient, but laborious.
  6. The Sixers are 8-4 and playing just fine without Harden, even through these last few COVID-ravaged games. Ben Simmons is still an excellent perimeter defender and floor runner. The concern isn’t whether this roster is good enough, because it’s pretty damn good. The question is whether a trade maximizes Joel Embiid’s prime, because he’s playing at an MVP level this season and you can justify doing just about anything to put him in the best position to lead this team night-in and night-out.
  7. Harden would have given you a closer, and unless Embiid can replicate the perimeter creation he showed Tuesday night against a rookie power forward, then I’m not sure the Sixers have that guy on the roster at the moment.