The Ben Simmons saga has finally come to a conclusion after the Sixers traded Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two future first round picks to the Brooklyn Nets in return for James Harden and Paul Millsap on February 10.

Ever since the Sixers were eliminated from the playoffs in the second round last year, mainly due to the lack of aggression and confidence in their star point guard Simmons, it has been hectic behind the scenes and in the locker room. After some passive aggressive interview answers from some teammates and coaches, Simmons has felt thrown under the bus from his so-called “brothers” and asked for a trade in the 2021 offseason.  

But after the Sixers failed to find a trade deal that would be beneficial to both Simmons and the Sixers, many sports journalists and commentators noted a rise in aggressive–even childish–behavior from Simmons, who was accused of trying to force his way out of Philadelphia by not participating in practices and not attending the preseason training camp.  After suffering through months of Simmons Instagram posts of him shooting threes in an empty gym, him out having fun in Los Angeles, rumors of possible trade deals with multiple teams around the league and his struggles with mental health issues due to the fans and media, Philadelphia, as well as their fans, no longer have to deal with it.  

Just three hours prior to the end of the 2021-22 trade deadline, the Sixers traded Simmons in a blockbuster trade package in return for 2018 NBA MVP James Harden. This trade caused NBA social media to go crazy, and debates about who won/benefited the most from the trade. Many fans said the Sixers obviously won the trade, and others say that the Nets won the trade long-term.  

As for me, I personally think that the Brooklyn Nets won the trade overall. It’s not because I’m some Sixers hater, or because I want to have a hot take to get more clicks and attention, but because of the history of James Harden and the playoffs and the unknown of what a possible new Ben Simmons could look like.  

What do I mean by the “history of James Harden”? Everybody knows the superstar that James Harden is. Even when he was the rookie sixth man in Oklahoma City with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and went to the finals to battle it out against LeBron James and the big-three Miami Heat, he was an amazing scorer and someone everybody would love to have on their roster as a top scoring option. In his final year in OKC, he averaged 13.5 points a game coming off the bench. The following year, Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets and averaged 13 more points a game, scoring 25.9 points a night in 2013.  He proceeded to lead the Houston Rockets to the playoffs a few years later, but couldn’t manage to get them far enough on his own.

And here is where I begin to have a problem with Harden. He first asked the Rockets to get Dwight Howard so he could have a decent big man who can grab rebounds and dunk with him, so they did so.  That didn’t work out, so a few years later he asked for Chris Paul so he didn’t have to do all of the ball handling, so they did that. That didn’t work either, so he then asked to get his former Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook, who was now a former MVP and triple double king — but that didn’t work either. Harden got tired of being on the Rockets and not getting the job done in the Western Conference, so he asked for and eventually publicly demanded a trade to the Brooklyn Nets, who already had all-star point guard Kyrie Irving and best player in the world Kevin Durant. He would eventually get traded to the Nets, where he had seemingly formed an unguardable super team. 

Unfortunately, a series of injuries prevented the Nets from winning a championship last year, but after Kyrie Irving refused to get vaccinated in a city that required vaccines to play home games, and continuous injuries from Kevin Durant, Harden quickly lost interest and motivation for playing for that team. So, he now he been traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he again will not be the number one scoring option, nor the best overall player on the team. And for me, it’s not a matter of “if” but a matter of “when” James Harden is going to get frustrated in Philly.