Former NBA player Channing Frye says the Toronto Raptors are the best, next home for James Harden. What would a trade look like for the All-Star?
The sole beauty in any superstar trade saga, especially when it’s prefaced by the player’s request to be traded, is that you never know who may step up out of the darkness and make an offer.
Because when NBA teams here that a superstar is available for trade, their brains switch gears, no matter the current standings of their franchise or how close/far they are from a championship.
So no matter how ludicrous, no matter how seemingly unlikely, the truth about today’s NBA is that no team should be left off a list naming potential suitors for top-five players. Remember the Toronto Raptors out-of-the-blue trade for Kawhi Leonard? A prime example from recent history.
Why bring this up? Because of former NBA champion Channing Frye, who set Raptors Twitter ablaze with this tweet from last week during a question and answer with fans:
I don’t do the math, the best place for him to win and is Toronto. Hands down. Think about the organization the development the players the culture he would get everything he needs! https://t.co/ln2ESGxOSU
— Channing Frye (@channingfrye) November 17, 2020
If you’ve been following the NBA since the start of the offseason, then you’re no doubt hip on the happenings with the Houston Rockets. After eight straight years with the organization and eight straight All-Star appearances, their superstar James Harden is reportedly ready to move on elsewhere.
The 31-year-old guard is smack in the middle of his prime. He finished last season averaging 34.3 points, 7.5 assists, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game. Harden led the league in scoring and finished the 2019-2020 campaign in third place for the league’s annual MVP award.
So when it comes to any potential trade return, one can assume it would take a king’s ransom. Otherwise, we’d all be moaning and groaning about the Brooklyn Nets’ new superteam.
It may seem a little asinine at first, but could the Toronto Raptors make a play for James Harden?
We don’t know executive Masai Ujiri to shy away from making a big win-now move. And trading for the 2018 MVP would only help their offseason efforts next year, in what is expected to be a loaded free agency class. But what would a trade between Toronto and Houston look like?