Take us through how all of this went down a stage When, when James Harden talked last night after the game, he knew that conversations were escalating with both the Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia 76 years both teams.

You know that yet great interest in joining and leaving Houston for.

And so I think it was.

It was quite orchestrated to try to give the organization another push to say, Come on, guys, pull the trigger on one of these deals.

Let's get it done.

I think that was part of it.

And so I do think that they were on their way toward a deal.

There's no question it had become untenable in Houston on then.

Today, both Brooklyn and you know, the 70 Sixers ultimately put their best offers on the table and Brooklyn's desire to get, uh, James Harden to go with Kevin Durant and obviously Kyrie Irving when he returns.

Uh, they were just determined to get this deal done.

Three first round picks from them four picks swaps, obviously the pick that goes through Cleveland to the Rockets, who get a great get a great return for this.

But this is a Brooklyn organization that is all in right now.

You mentioned Kyrie Irving's name and and he, of course, has been kind of a nuisance for this team of late.

He remains absent from the Nets for personal reasons and under league investigation for a potentially violating Covad.

19 protocols.

So you have hardened.

You have Kevin Durant and you have Kyrie Irving.

I mean, how does he fit back into this equation?

Assuming he wants to come back, watch well, he's going to have to fit back into it.

But what the Nets did here by getting James Harden listen, they know that Kevin Durant is going to be coming back up on free agency in two years.

You're always thinking about that, and now they have having James Harden their That helps to solidify, uh, keeping Kevin Durant, who has come off this Achilles injury playing at you know, his old form is an M V P level player, and so Kyrie Irving can rejoin this team.

He can recommit to this organization, and you have three M v P level players together, and if he doesn't wanna be a part of it or it's not gonna work out.

Well, you've got James Harden now, and certainly they paid a great price for it.

But Brooklyn, you know, if nothing else, they got themselves a pretty significant insurance policy.

I'm Kevin Durant's future with the Nets.

Yeah, we know Kevin Durant and James Harden had been communicating.

They wanted this to happen.

They both get their way.

We'll see what happens with Kyrie.

By the way, all three guys making more than 30 million dollars a year to be interesting to see how the financial part of this plays out.

What about the Pacers?

Wo Jo and Victor Oladipo?

We heard when they were in the bubble that Oladipo disgruntled somewhat with the Pacers, and then it went quiet about it.

How did that part of the deal go down with Indiana?

Well, Houston was looking in this deal to move Caris Levert to another team they wanted to see, uh, you know, in the marketplace what it would bring them back.

They didn't value avert the way some other teams mind.

I think Caris Levert is a great fit for this Indiana team with mouth and Brogden and, uh, Domantas Sabonis.

Uh uh, very good infrastructure.

There I think the relationship between Victor Oladipo and the Pacers uh, you know, they were ready to move on from each other ultimately, And now Oladipo goes to Houston.

We'll see.

If Oladipo stays in Houston through the trade deadline, they could move him again in early March, see what assets are there, or they could look to resign him.

He'll be a free agent at the end of the season for much Mawr.

Let's bring in Stephen A.

Smith.

You're the first person I thought of when I heard about this trade.

Your reaction to this blockbuster move.

Well, first of all, I mean, as far as I'm concerned, it's finals or bust.

You are you assembled Lethal Weapon three, which is what we could easily call them.

Right now, there's simply no excuse not to come out of the East on Advanced to the NBA Finals.

There really is not an excuse.

James Harden's getting paid 40 million this year.

Kevin Durant get paid 39.

Kyrie Irving is somewhere we don't know at an undisclosed location, doing whatever it is that he does but still getting $33.4 million this season.

In the end What it comes down to is that all of these brothers a big time basketball players, this is Kevin Durant's franchise.

James Harden would not be there unless Kevin Durant wanted him to be there.

It's definitely a security blanket in case things continue to fall in the wrong direction as it pertains to Kyrie.

Irving is going to come down with James Harden and Kevin Durant and let me be very, very clear.

We could sit up there.

We could talk about James Harden all we want to.

The man has averaged over 30 the last three years at least 29 the last four years, at least 28 the last five years.

He is one of the most prolific scorers this game of basketball has ever seen and more importantly than that he loves to play the game of basketball.

He doesn't engage in load management.

He believes in showing up.

You can worry about a few things all you want to about James Harden, but the one thing you do not have to worry about is him showing up to play the game of basketball because he wants to play.

He wanted to play with Kevin Durant.

At least until this morning.

After all of this Kyrie news percolated, then Philadelphia was obviously an option with Daryl Morey, his former president of basketball operations in Philly, along with Doc Rivers, the head coach there now.

But everybody that knows anything about the NBA right now knew that Tilman Fertitta, the owner for the Houston Rockets, would never allow James Harden and end up in Philadelphia with Daryl Morey.

They end up going to the finals, his former star, his former president of basketball operations.

Folks in the N b.

A community firmly believe Philadelphia was never going to be an option, no matter what James Harden wanted.

But obviously, he wants and loves the idea of playing with Kevin Durant.

So the Rockets get a boatload of picks here.

You mentioned the Nets, and you think it's championship or bust.

What advice would you give Steve Nash, first time head coach Steve National, guiding this team with these Stars, embrace James Harden and Kevin Durant and let Kyrie Irvin figure it out?

You can't trust Carvey Irvine right now.

It's just that simple.

We're not questioning his greatness is a basketball player.

His box office appeal whether it where his heart is that because it's in the right place.

But clearly at this particular moment in time, basketball is not the priority it needs to be.

And if you Steve Nash coaching on any level for the first time in your career, you do not need to be concerned about what he's going to do when he's going to do it, how he's going to do it, etcetera.

You know you can trust Kevin Durant to show up and play ball.

If he's healthy, you know you could trust James Harden to show up and play basketball for this franchise.

If he's healthy, you focus on that and the other parts that you have.

And if Kyrie Irving wants to come back when he wants to come back, put the onus on him toe fit in.

That's what you do if you're Steve Nash at this particular moment in time because Kyrie Irving has already shown you, you're not the priority you need to be, So why make him one?

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