NBA Insider on Harden-Simmons Trade: "The Game Is ON! There Absolutely Is A Chance"

The Brooklyn Nets are on an 8-game losing spiral, and have some big decisions to make in the next day or two regarding James Harden. According to NBA Insider Brian Windhorst, negotiations are taking place through "back channels" or other non-traditional means, and "there absolutely is a chance" of a trade by Thursday at 3pm ET. 

In fact, regarding all the denials, etc., Windy emphasizes "everything you hear is a negotiation."

Windhorst partly points to Harden's apparent lack of effort recently for the Nets. On his Hoop Collective podcast today, Windhorst said Harden appears to be "on quasi-strike" right now, and added, bluntly, "James Harden has shut down on his team," to essentially "force a trade."

With the Nets on a then-5-game losing streak last week, Harden's effort in a game in Sacramento was... shall we say, telling. Windhorst noted that "the clips of his defensive effort were embarrassing."

Harden effort thread because I watched the film back and, my god, it's pathetic.

Clip 1: just blatantly not caring. pic.twitter.com/NbCccj2Ntt

— Erik Slater (@erikslaterNR) February 3, 2022

Clip 2: Careless turnover, everyone matched up in transition except Harden, and a joke of a closeout leads to a basket. pic.twitter.com/KN9TuyimIy

— Erik Slater (@erikslaterNR) February 3, 2022

Clip3: Gets backdoored but gets bailed out by a fantastic James Johnson effort. pic.twitter.com/pcE5dSczB8

— Erik Slater (@erikslaterNR) February 3, 2022

Clip 6: No idea where his man is. Wide open three.

Any time the Nets tried to break it open something like this happened. pic.twitter.com/9evLQKTOmG

— Erik Slater (@erikslaterNR) February 3, 2022

Clip 9: Throws his hands up in the air, acts like he’s going to help but doesn’t, loses his man, and lazily slaps on the layup. pic.twitter.com/mSEz9UsoTz

— Erik Slater (@erikslaterNR) February 3, 2022

Fellow insider Marc Spears agrees with Windhort's assessment, saying "I'm not buying all this 'he wants to be here'" that the Nets are selling.

And while all of the public declarations coming out of Brooklyn are that they will not be trading Harden to Philly, Windhorst insists that negotiations are indeed ongoing.