First things first, another James Harden trade was not on my Bingo card, like wtf. Now for the reasoning behind the trade.

76ers: Daryl Morey pulls some Morey magic with this one. He basically turns an expiring James Harden and bad contracts into Damian Lillard and the clear cut partner to Joel Embiid. No more drama, no more bullshit, if you get Damian Lillard you will have a drama free superstar.

Knicks: This might be extremely baffling. Why would the Knicks trade a solid amount of assets for James Harden who is “past his prime.” I’m sick and tired of hearing the Knicks in all these superstar trade talks. Everyone always say that the Knicks are always a big threat to sign or trade for someone, but they never do it. This past season it made it quite clear that Jalen Brunson is apart of the Knicks future and a successful one too I might add. However, they will plateau with RJ Barrett and Julius Randle both being there. So the Knicks pull the trigger on adding James Harden who call elevate everyone on that team including Julius Randle. As well as, add PJ Tucker and Jusuf Nurkic who are solid role players. Some people might also say that it would be extremely risky to trade for James Harden since he’s on the roster for only one year, but that’s perfect for the Knicks. If they resign James Harden after the year, cool, if they don’t then that might be better. They’ll have a lot of cap space freed up for the 2024 free agency class which is stacked with players who can replace James Harden, and especially the production of RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, and Mitchell Robinson the Knicks receive right now. If they show more team success then free agents will finally want to play for the Knicks, they’re in New York for crying out loud.

Trail Blazers: They finally do it. They realize it’s best for the organization and Damian Lillard to finally move on from each other. RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, and Mitchell Robinson are nice fits along side the young core the Trail Blazers already have since it’s very guard heavy plus they can see with the improved role each of those players receive if one of them can breakout just like Lauri Markkanen did last season. However, the main reason you trade Damian Lillard is to let Scoot Henderson fly free. He’s your franchise point guard for the next era of Trail Blazers basketball and it’s best you start it sooner rather than later. The only real downside I see is the picks received, but from all the reported Damian Lillard trades I’ve seen most of the teams that Damian Lillard wants to go to or the teams with the highest interest of Damian Lillard barely have picks to give out in a trade as well. So the main focus for the Trail Blazers should be on the players they receive in any Damian Lillard trade.