Nets' Updated Salary Cap After Reported James Harden Blockbuster Trade
The 2020-21 NBA season took a sudden turn on Wednesday thanks to a massive trade, which was headlined by James Harden joining Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the Nets landed Harden in a four-team deal that also saw Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, three Brooklyn first-round picks, one Milwaukee first-round pick and four Brooklyn first-round swaps go to the Houston Rockets.
Elsewhere, the Indiana Pacers ended up with Caris LeVert and a second-round pick, while the Cleveland Cavaliers brought in Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince.
Here is a look at the salary cap information for the Nets, who are now more than $30 million over the NBA tax threshold, per Spotrac:
- James Harden: $41.3 million cap figure
- Kevin Durant: $40.1 million
- Kyrie Irving: $33.5 million
- Joe Harris: $16.1 million
- Spencer Dinwiddie: $11.5 million
- DeAndre Jordan: $10.4 million
- Landry Shamet: $2.1 million
- Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot: $1.8 million (partially guaranteed)
- Bruce Brown: $1.7 million
- Jeff Green: $1.6 million
- Tyler Johnson: $1.6 million
- Nicolas Claxton: $1.5 million
As Spotrac noted, the Nets now have an active roster cap of more than $163 million and a practical cap space of negative-$53.2 million.
While this trade will have a massive impact on every team involved, it is clear Brooklyn is going all-in on chasing a championship in the immediate future. Given the cap space, the draft capital it moved and the fact Durant, Irving and Harden are all superstars in their prime, the Nets are eyeing 2020-21 and 2021-22 as a surefire championship window.
There are still plenty of questions.
For one, Irving has not played since Jan. 5 and has been away from the team for personal reasons. What's more, Harden's early season in Houston did not exactly go swimmingly with trade rumors and a 3-6 start to the campaign, but perhaps getting the trade he was looking for will jumpstart him.
Brooklyn is 6-6 on the campaign and has not looked like the title contender so many expected to this point.
Absences from Irving and Durant go a long way toward explaining the record, and there is no doubt each member of this talent trio is among the best players in the league. How they all fit in together under first-year head coach Steve Nash will go a long way toward determining how much success the Nets have this season, but the pieces are in place to challenge for a championship.
They certainly mortgaged some of their future to make sure of it.
