James Harden Trade to 76ers for Ben Simmons 'Not Easy' for Nets, GM Sean Marks Says

Trading a player of James Harden's caliber was "not easy" for Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks.

Brooklyn sent Harden and Paul Millsap to the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday in the trade that netted Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, an unprotected 2022 first-round pick and a protected 2027 first-round pick.

Marks opened up about the process Friday, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN:

"Make no bones about it: We went all in on getting James Harden and inviting him to the group. And these decisions to move on from a player like that, of that caliber, are never easy ones. I just want to be clear that this is not something that you think, great, let's just make a split decision and move on from that. I give James a lot of credit for having open dialogue, open discussions with me and with the group, [Nets coach Steve Nash] and [owner] Joe Tsai and everybody over the last 24, 48 hours."

"Again, I said they're not easy, but I think that's something we pride ourselves on is being open and honest. James was honest with us and we were honest with him. I think it's a move that enables him to have a fresh start, enables this team to have a fresh start, without trying to push things to make things work."

To say the Big Three of Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving didn't work out would be quite the understatement.

The trio appeared on the court together for a grand total of 16 games during last season and this one thanks to a combination of injuries and Irving's lack of availability for home games because he remains unvaccinated against COVID-19.

Simmons hasn't played a single game this season, so the Nets may have to wait some time until their main return piece in the deal can take the floor as well. Throw in Durant's injury and Irving's absence, and the Nets may be looking at a play-in tournament spot at best come playoff time.

After all, they've lost 10 consecutive games and have fallen to the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

They are 6.5 games behind the top-seeded Miami Heat and just 3.5 games ahead of the 11th-seeded Washington Wizards. The Nos. 7-10 seeds will qualify for the play-in tournament, which means the Nets could be quite the unkind matchup for the first or second seed in the first round.

The combination of Durant, Irving, Simmons, Curry, Patty Mills, LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin is good enough to win the title, but so was the group with Harden.

Unfortunately for the Nets, it never came together with Harden even if it was "not easy" to trade him.