Why the other teams could say yes to this James Harden trade:
Philadelphia 76ers:
The Sixers are not going to want to lose James Harden for free after trading assets for him this past season. The problem for Philly is that working a sign-and-trade deal is going to be really hard as there aren’t many teams who would want Harden.
Contending teams have seen enough and aren’t going to make the same mistake the Sixers did and worse teams with cap space (like the Spurs) are not good enough to contend for a title anyway and would not mortgage the future for a bad Harden contract.
What the Sixers need is a team that is desperate and that team is the Los Angeles Lakers. Julius Randle and Evan Fournier is not the most exciting trade package, but at least the Sixers would get a former all-star and a three-point specialist to replace what Seth Curry used to do in Philly.
It is either that or lose the cap space.
New York Knicks:
The Knicks would make this move for the picks they are receiving for taking on Westbrook’s contract. New York could be stubborn and not want to make a trade like this but in reality, it would be the best thing for the team in the long run.
This Knicks team is not contending next season and honestly, the record probably would get better if they did this trade as the one thing Westbrook can do is elevate bad teams in the regular season.
They could have the same season that they otherwise would have had and would have cap space after the season to look forward to as well as two Lakers picks that could end up being very juicy.