Nets' Kyrie Irving on James Harden Trade: 'I Just Want Everybody to Be Happy'

Brooklyn Nets wished James Harden all the best Thursday night after the superstar point guard was dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers earlier in the day in a blockbuster trade that sent Ben Simmons to Brooklyn.

"Ultimately for me, i just want everybody to be happy and do things that they love to do and be a part of things that they can see themselves being successful at," he told reporters. "And it probably wasn't here with us and he made a choice and we respect him for it."

Joe Vardon of The Athletic reported that Harden and Irving didn't see eye to eye by the end of their partnership in Brooklyn and Irving was ready to see him go, though Irving blasted that report:

"Definitely a weird vibe between them," a source told Vardon. "You could tell Harden was annoyed, and Kyrie wasn't feeling James."

Nets superstar Kevin Durant spoke about Thursday's trade that sent Harden and Paul Millsap to the 76ers for Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks: 

He then didn't select Harden for his All-Star Game roster, allowing him to last until the final pick:

In total across the past two seasons, the trio of Durant, Harden and Irving played just 16 games together, a byproduct of injuries and Irving taking time away from the team for personal reasons last season and missing a chunk of this season—and every home game since returning to the team—as an unvaccinated player. 

Whatever soured Harden on Brooklyn came to a head in the past few weeks, with the player sitting out the team's last three games with hamstring tightness. In Philadelphia, he'll have the chance to pair with superstar center Joel Embiid, who is currently among the frontrunners to win this year's MVP award. 

And a potential playoff showdown with the Nets could be on the horizon. It would be hard to write a better script than those teams meeting in the postseason after Brooklyn's Big Three experiment went so horribly awry.