I know we’re officially into the silly season when I start seeing fakes trades that send James Harden to the Detroit Pistons.
The Clippers, who should be playing in the senior citizen division of the NBA, have wildly underperformed this season, so there are obvious rumblings they are going to blow it up.
What concerns the rest of the NBA is that OKC owns the Clippers’ first-round pick, which would currently land in the top 10, so the Thunder could be adding another elite talent to a juggernaut that is cakewalking through the league right now. Great.
It makes sense that the Clippers may try to recoup a pick or two by trading some of their veterans, and the Pistons were mentioned by Bleacher Report as a possible destination for The Beard.
I can say pretty confidently that this isn’t going to happen, but here is the trade they came up with:
On the surface, this seems somewhat fair, as Jaden Ivey and Tobias Harris are on expiring contracts and may not be back anyway, but so is Harden, so the Pistons would potentially be giving up the guts of their best trade package for a wild Hail Mary that probably wouldn’t work.
Detroit Pistons: Trading for James Harden makes no sense
James Harden is still a good player, but he is 36 years old, so they’d be cashing in Jaden Ivey (arguably their best available trade asset) for a guy who is 13 years older.
It’s not just that, but Harden only has a player option on his contract for next season, so he could opt out and leave in free agency. Do you think James Harden wants to play in Detroit after spending his whole career trying to get to the West Coast? Me either.
Harden is from LA and it’s hard to see him happy in Detroit.
And do you really think Harden is the piece that pushes the Pistons into legit title contention? The guy who has never won anything, hasn’t been out of the second round since 2017, and whose playoff numbers all dip from his career averages.
On top of that, he’s a ball-dominant guard who isn’t a great fit with Cade Cunningham even though he would undoubtedly take some of the attention off him.
If the Pistons think they are going to lose Ivey anyway, then trading him makes sense, but it should be for a guy who represents a longer window than Harden, who would likely just be a one-off Hail Mary that would come up short anyway.
Then they tack Brook Lopez onto the deal, which makes it even worse, as he stinks and likely wouldn’t even step on the floor for the Pistons, who already have three centers who are all better.
The Pistons may pool Harris and Ivey together to make a big trade, but it’s hard to see this being the one, as it’s just a short-term pipe dream.