Brooklyn Nets: 3 players who have been positively impacted by James Harden trade

1. Kevin Durant

As improbable as it sounds, Durant, who has thrust himself back into the MVP conversation, is actually scoring at a higher clip since Harden arrived in town. His latest hot streak has him putting the ball in the basket at a rate that we haven’t seen since he was consistently winning scoring titles in Oklahoma City.

If you remove that weird night against the Raptors, Durant is averaging 32.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 4.5 assists since the Harden trade. Durant isn’t just chucking the ball up aimlessly — his averages of 53% shooting from the floor and 44% from three are astonishing for a player scoring that much every night.

Kevin Durant has been lights out after the James Harden trade.

What makes Durant such a lethal scorer is the fact that he can put up tremendous numbers while remaining efficient and not demanding the ball in his hands. Harden running the point and offense allows Durant to move without the ball and get switched onto an inferior defender, which has helped his scoring explode.

While this new-look lineup is never going to be the mid-2000s Pistons on the defensive end, adding Harden has made this team much stronger. These three all starting to hit their stride has the Nets in prime position to take one of the top two seeds in the East away from Philadelphia or Milwaukee.