Brooklyn Nets: Spencer Dinwiddie injury all but officially ends James Harden trade talks

Forget about the James Harden rumors for real now, Nets fans.

The Brooklyn Nets sadly lost Spencer Dinwiddie for the 2020-2021 season after he suffered a partially-torn ACL against the Charlotte Hornets this past Sunday. Though he left the door open for a potential return if the Nets were to make a Finals run, we certainly wouldn’t bank on it.

Most importantly, on the surface, Dinwiddie’s injury clobbers the team’s depth and will affect how they deploy lineups for the rest of the way. From a salacious perspective, we can safely say his injury fully kills the Nets-Rockets trade rumors involving James Harden.

For weeks, Dinwiddie was a big name mentioned in potential return packages heading back to Houston in any hypothetical deal, which was already a stretch because it’s clear the Nets don’t want to sacrifice too much of their depth for another ball-dominant player. Now that he’s off the table, we can almost guarantee this trade won’t happen.

Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert have already asserted themselves as key figures on this roster as well, so the fact that the Nets would have to likely surrender more than those two in a trade for Harden (initial speculated packages featured Dinwiddie, Allen and LeVert) would be an even tougher pill to swallow.

Brooklyn dismantled the Celtics and Warriors by flexing their star power and superior second unit. Dinwiddie’s loss already downgrades the second unit. Trading more pieces on top of Allen and LeVert would strip the Nets of arguably their biggest strength.

“On ESPN’s ‘NBA Countdown’ on Friday, Adrian Wojnarowski said the Boston Celtics are among teams who have engaged Houston in trade talks about Harden. He also said a Harden trade is likely to include a third team as the Rockets are determined to get a young star player in return. A three-team trade would open the door for the Nets possibly getting back in the action, although losing Dinwiddie takes a key asset off the table,” Matt Young of the Houston Chronicle wrote.

And don’t even count on a three-team deal! The Nets, at this point, are best suited standing pat and rolling with who they have. Dinwiddie’s injury is bad enough. Depleting more of the roster for a redundant player could perhaps make fans realize that trading for Harden was never really a great idea in the first place.

Nets: 3 replacements for Spencer Dinwiddie after ACL injury

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