By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
Hope everyone had their fun while it lasted, because it doesn’t seem to be that a trade for the Rockets’ James Harden is in the cards for the Boston Celtics. Not according to the latest report from the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy, anyway.
Per league source on the Celtics' view of a potential James Harden deal: "No interest."
— Mark Murphy (@Murf56) November 18, 2020
Ah, well, there’s that.
Murphy’s speculation-extinguishing came shortly after a report from Heavy.com’s Brandon Robinson said that the Celtics were ‘frantically’ trying to accumulate the assets necessary — and at the expense of Gordon Hayward and Kemba Walker — to swing a deal for the league’s back-to-back-to-back scoring champ.
98.5 The Sports Hub’s James Stewart and his famed underground sources also said that the Celtics were in on Harden.
So, what we have here is good old fashioned source-off. Two takes enter. One dies. Or something like that.
The reality of the situation, at least in the now, is that Harden does want out of Houston. I mean, he even turned down a $50 million per year extension to make that point known. And he reportedly wants that exit to lead him to Brooklyn for a superstar team-up with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. That deal seems almost impossible from a financial and talent standpoint from the Nets, and there’s now rumblings that Irving doesn’t want to play with Harden.
The 76ers have also been mentioned as a possible landing spot for The Beard, and the potential contract and talent swapping from Philly-to-Houston seems more doable than whatever the Nets could offer outside of Kyrie and/or Durant. The Rockets have also made it known that they’re willing to ‘get uncomfortable’ to ensure the proper return on their franchise talent.
Boston, for the record, has both the contracts (Hayward and Walker being at the top of that list) and draft pick treasure chest to make a deal for Harden work. But not the interest.
Though the latter point apparently all depends on who you ask.
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