Ben Simmons for James Harden and Recent Dream NBA Trades That Never Happened

What if?

It's the most fascinating of all NBA inquiries, a question that can send franchises and their fanbases into a million different emotional directions.

It's also the reason we're here, as Thursday night's matchup between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers brings one of basketball's biggest what-if scenarios in recent memory to the forefront.

Both could look dramatically different now had the nearly completed James Harden-for-Ben Simmons swap come to fruition last season. It obviously didn't, though, as Harden wound up in Brooklyn, and Simmons stayed in Philly—for now, at least.

But it's hard not to think about what could have been, so let's revisit those trade talks and four of the other most significant near-blockbusters of the last five years.

Jrue Holiday for CJ McCollum and Picks

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Before the New Orleans Pelicans routed Jrue Holiday to the Milwaukee Bucks in November 2020—a trade that completed the Bucks' Big Three and helped propel them to the 2021 title—they first shopped the two-way combo guard to the Portland Trail Blazers.

New Orleans sought scoring guard CJ McCollum and three first-round picks in return, per The Athletic's Jason Quick. The scribe cited former Blazers' decision-maker Neil Olshey's affinity for McCollum as one of the biggest barricades to the blockbuster-that-wasn't.

That rationale doesn't hold water, as Holiday's defensive versatility and ability to play on or off the ball are exactly what Portland needs alongside Damian Lillard in the backcourt. Having said that, the Blazers' decision-makers should be glad this deal never went down, since their slide to a sub-.400 winning percentage—combined with Lillard's uncertain future—could make those draft picks ultra-valuable.

New Orleans, meanwhile, wound up moving Holiday to Milwaukee in a four-team trade that netted the Pelicans two future firsts, two first-round swaps, Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe. While Adams and Bledsoe have both moved on, that might be preferable to the Pelicans still paying McCollum, who would be a backcourt upgrade but wouldn't change the fact this club cannot compete without a healthy Zion Williamson.

Kyle Lowry To Lakers

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Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers new they needed a lift. Well, several of them, actually. They also knew who could provide them: Kyle Lowry, who could perk up their playmaking, increase their perimeter shooting and bulk up their point-of-attack defense. As icing on the cake, he even had the veteran know-how to seamlessly transition to a new team midseason.

The Lakers talked Lowry trades with the Toronto Raptors and neared an exchange involving Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and "likely some draft compensation," per The Athletic's Jovan Buha and Bill Oram. The problem was the Raptors wanted then-sophomore swingman Talen Horton-Tucker, and that request proved too rich for the Lakers' blood.

At the time, the hoops world's response was a collective "Huh?!" Horton-Tucker wasn't light on promise and intrigue, but what good were those to a group piloted by late-career LeBron James? His teams have been graded on the championship-or-bust scale for years, and the win-right-now directive has only increased the deeper he probes into his 30s.

But Lowry went nowhere, and the Lakers effectively didn't either. They were knocked out of the first round by the Phoenix Suns with Horton-Tucker logging L.A.'s 10th-most minutes in the series.

The Lakers ultimately added Russell Westbrook at point guard over the summer, and that costly investment has yet to deliver any promising returns. Meanwhile, Lowry has appeared as the missing piece in James' old stomping grounds down in South Beach.

Kawhi Leonard for Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart

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You know how the pursuits of NBA superstars always wind up labeled as sweepstakes? Well, somewhere the Boston Celtics have stockpiled a lot of silver medals and participation trophies from previous chases that produced a lot of rumors but never actually landed a star in Beantown.

That was perhaps most clearly evident in the 2018 clash for Kawhi Leonard, as the two-way superstar tired of the San Antonio Spurs and immediately vaulted atop everyone's list of trade targets. The Shamrocks, meanwhile, had the opportunity to put the best offer on the table, but they balked at including a top trade chip.

"They could have made a deal for Kawhi Leonard—my understanding, from kind of both sides of this—involving Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart," Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix reported in 2019 (h/t NBC Sports). "At least Jaylen Brown as the centerpiece of it all."

Should Boston want a mulligan on this decision? Yes and no.

If the Celtics were worried Leonard wouldn't be the same after effectively losing a season to injury, they simply guessed wrong. He cracked the All-NBA and All-Defensive second teams immediately after this non-trade, rewarding the Toronto Raptors with their first world title for having the guts to go get him.

If Boston thought too highly of Brown to give him up, that's a more defensible stance. He may never be as dominant as Leonard, but Brown has carved his own path to two-way stardom.

If the Celtics were simply scared off by Leonard's uncertain future—he only had one season left on his contract at the time—that's impossible to analyze, even with hindsight. Maybe Boston could have convinced him to stay and form a championship trio with Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum. Or perhaps both Leonard and Irving would've bounced at season's end and spiraled the Celtics into a rebuild.

Paul George To Cleveland, Kyrie Irving To Phoenix in 3-Teamer

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In the shadows of their defeat in the 2017 Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers aimed at an ambitious overhaul. The three-team swap, which came "close" to completion, per The Athletic's Jason Lloyd, would have brought Paul George and Eric Bledsoe to Cleveland, Kyrie Irving and Channing Frye to the Phoenix Suns and Iman Shumpert, Jared Dudley and the No. 4 pick of that year's draft to the Indiana Pacers.

Guess what torpedoed the trade talks? The Suns' resistance due to their desire to keep the pick and spend it on Josh Jackson, per ESPN's Jackie MacMullan. Go figure. History will grade that decision as an "LOL!!!!" as Jackson was in and out of the desert in only two seasons, and Phoenix needed to attach multiple sweeteners (including De'Anthony Melton) to get off his rookie deal.

The Cavs fail the hindsight analysis, too. George would've been a perfect co-star for LeBron James, and Bledsoe could've plugged some of their defensive leaks on the perimeter. Who knows, maybe the impact of their arrivals could've convinced James not to hightail it to Hollywood the following summer.

But George and Bledsoe never came. Irving, upset about the trade talks, per Lloyd, later asked out and was moved for a lesser package built around a hobbled Isaiah Thomas and the draft pick that eventually became Collin Sexton. James didn't have a reason to stick around Northeast Ohio any longer.

The only team that benefited from the nixed talks was Indiana, which wound up turning George into Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis that same summer. Of course, since the Pacers weren't the ones to kibosh these talks, it's hard to say they aced the non-exchange when their calculations said Josh Jackson—or whomever they would've targeted at No. 4—and filler was adequate compensation for Paul freakin' George.

Ben Simmons for James Harden

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When Harden hit the trade market last season, the 76ers were either his most logical suitor or among a small group of clubs at the top. They needed a perimeter shot-creator to open up their attack—particularly one adept at working in the half-court offense that suits Joel Embiid best—they had a top, young trade chip in Simmons and they were run by Daryl Morey, the executive responsible for bringing the Beard to Space City.

A deal sending Harden to Philly was so close to the finish line that Simmons and Matisse Thybulle were both informed by their agents to expect the trade, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. But for whatever reason, the Houston Rockets bypassed that package—which included a pair of first-round picks, per The Athletic's Shams Charania—and sent Harden to Brooklyn instead.

What happened? The simplest speculation is that Rockets governor Tilman Fertitta put his foot down and refused to do business with his former top decision-maker. However, ESPN's Tim MacMahon offered an alternative take on the Hoop Collective podcast (h/t Rockets Wire):

"There's been a lot of discussion about the Morey dynamic, but it simply came down to this. The Rockets felt like, 'If we're trading James Harden, this is a full-fledged rebuild, and Ben Simmons is not the centerpiece of a rebuild.' ... They did not feel like he was a 'build your franchise around this guy' kind of player."

Were the Rockets right in that assessment? That depends on your view of Simmons. His reluctance to shoot is a huge hindrance, but it doesn't overshadow what he brings as a five-position stopper and jumbo-sized playmaker. It's also possible he'd be even more dynamic with a roster tailored to his strengths as opposed to being the square peg in the round hole that is Philly's Embiid-centric blueprint.

For the Sixers, Harden remains the one that got away, although Philadelphia hasn't abandoned that pursuit. With no Harden or Simmons, who's awaiting his trade wish to be granted, the 76ers have predictably taken a step back and become overly reliant on Embiid as their singular star.

The Nets married themselves to championship-or-bust evaluations with the Harden swap, which is arguably where they already were with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Injuries and absences have kept this club from showing its full potential, and there's a risk one or both of Irving and Harden don't bother sticking around next summer. Having said that, it's hard to knock anyone for betting big on championship-caliber talent.

The Rockets, meanwhile, haven't received much of the pick-heavy package they ultimately chose, so their grade could stay incomplete for the foreseeable future—even if the decision to add (the since traded away) Victor Oladipo remains a head-scratcher.

Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.