Sixers’ James Harden Wishes Best for Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant

The Brooklyn Nets’ big three of James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant split last season when Harden forced his way out and landed with the Philadelphia 76ers ahead of the 2022 trade deadline.

At the time, Kevin Durant was dealing with injuries, and Kyrie Irving was a part-time player due to his vaccination status. Despite being title contenders at one point, the Nets made it to the playoffs via the Play-In tournament and found themselves swept by the eventual Eastern Conference Champions in the first round last season.

During the summer of 2022, Irving requested a trade while exploring the idea of leaving via free agency. Durant requested a trade despite signing a long-term extension one year prior.

Brooklyn managed to convince Irving to stay by picking up his player option for next season. They also temporarily salvaged the situation with Durant by preventing a holdout from the superstar. Although the Nets patched up the concerns regarding their two stars before the 2022-2023 season started, it became clear that Harden probably made the right choice to get out of Brooklyn when he did.

Many believed that that the superstar trio, including Irving and Durant, was something that Harden was no longer willing to deal with, and that’s why he left. However, Harden made it clear that his desire to leave Brooklyn prematurely went beyond the frustrations of not being able to share the floor with those guys. And in fact, Harden wishes the best for the two All-Stars, according to ESPN.

"It was a lot," Harden said. "But I enjoyed my time obviously playing with KD and Kyrie for those games. There's a lot of possibilities of what could've happened. But it's part of life. Move on, and I'm sure having everybody's in a better place, a good place. And here we are." …

“Frustrating," he said. "It's a lot of what-ifs, I think when you play less than 20 games together. So it's a little bit frustrating, but it is what it is. Hopefully, everybody's in a good place now and we can move on."

At this point, everybody has moved on. When Harden made his first return to Brooklyn on Saturday night to take on the Nets since the trade went down last year, he wasn’t facing a team stacked with Irving and Durant. Instead, it was a revamped roster, a result of the two stars once again forcing trades and actually getting out of town this time around.

Irving landed with the Dallas Mavericks last week, something that Harden didn’t have much to say about hours after the deal went down.

A few days later, Durant was shipped out west as he landed with the Phoenix Suns in a deadline-day blockbuster deal. While Harden certainly feels the frustration due to the what-ifs in Brooklyn, the star guard is satisfied with his current situation and wishes the best for his former teammates who are getting fresh starts.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.