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How well would James Harden fit on each team on his trade list? – Sportsnet.ca

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Houston Rockets superstar James Harden wants to be traded.

And despite seemingly doing everything in his power to make life difficult for the Rockets to do just that — not reporting for training camp, looking to blatantly disregard social distancing policies put in place to attend the birthday party of Lil Baby, just being a general pain in the behind — given the nature of the NBA, no matter how spoiled he’s behaving he’s still likely to get his way at some point.

So far, Harden has reportedly made known of four destinations that he’d like to be traded to: Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Miami or Milwaukee, with the Nets, reportedly, being his preferred destination.

All four clubs figure to be contenders this season, so Harden’s desire to win seems apparent but where, exactly would he fit in best among these options? Here’s a quick ranking of each:

1) Philadelphia 76ers

The 76ers would be a top-notch destination for both Harden and Philadelphia.

Harden would reunite with Daryl Morey, the man who first brought him to Houston and then signed him to the supermax deal he’s on right now, and the team that would be around him would be built to be far more offensively balanced than he’s had with the Rockets, something that will ease the load off him.

For the Sixers, trading for Harden would mean the team’s dreadful shooting would instantly see an upgrade, plus the club could finally end this Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons experiment.

Over the past couple of seasons it’s been quite apparent that the two stars don’t compliment each other well at all and Philly would, perhaps, be better off choosing one over the other. Should the Sixers look to make a deal for Harden, because of the massive $41.2 million he’s owed this season, Philadelphia would basically have to deal one of Embiid, Simmons or Tobias Harris — with the more attractive choices for Houston being one of Embiid or Simmons.

The setup is already in place for an easy transaction, and the Sixers would hold a lot of promise with the addition of Harden.

2) Milwaukee Bucks

From a pure basketball standpoint, this is the most terrifying proposition: The two MVPs over the last three seasons teaming up together.

From a purely competitive standpoint, this should be the destination Harden wants to go to the most. The team with the best record in basketball the last two seasons, with one of the most dominant two-way players on the planet leading the charge, relieving Harden of the pressure he’s faced over his career in Houston.

It sounds like a perfect fit right up until you consider what a trade package would look like.

In order to swap for Harden straight up the Bucks would have to trade either Khris Middleton or newcomer Jrue Holiday. It’s unlikely Milwaukee wants to do either, although, with that said, Harden would certainly be an upgrade over Middleton on the wing.

3) Miami Heat

Another strong, competitively-reasoned destination that comes with the big bonus of South Beach, the defending Eastern Conference champions look poised to dominate the East for years to come and the addition of Harden would just cement that.

Harden would theoretically give Miami what it was missing in the Finals last season, a go-to scorer, capable of getting a bucket whenever needed.

You can debate the aesthetics of Harden’s game all you like, but as the three-time defending scoring champion there’s no denying he knows how to score and there were times in the Finals when it looked like Miami could have used an individually great player to get them baskets as opposed to relying upon the team’s offensive system, where most of their scoring comes from.

Harden could be that guy.

Unfortunately for Miami, like with Milwaukee, in order to make this deal happen straight up, the Heat would have to give away too much in Jimmy Butler. Miami’s other valuable players like Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro will be making too little this season to factor into a trade to help match Harden’s gargantuan salary and a deal with the primary pieces coming back Houston’s way being Kelly Olynyk and Andre Iguodala wouldn’t fly, either.

You can never say never, but it’s hard to see how the Heat can get this deal done.

4) Brooklyn Nets

Harden’s preferred destination is probably the worst option he’s given himself.

Sure, a deal could be made between Brooklyn and Houston without the Nets needing to deal one of Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving, but in order to do so a combination of Brooklyn’s young talent that will act as the team’s role players this season will need to be dealt.

This means, probably, a three-man grouping of Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, Jarrett Allen and even veteran big man DeAndre Jordan.

That would be a sizeable amount of Brooklyn’s depth — and a big part of the team’s competitive advantage — stripped away just to add Harden to Durant and Irving.

But, for posterity’s sake, let’s say a deal does happen, is there enough ball to go around between that kind of triumvirate? Harden, of course, is notorious for basically pounding the air out of the ball, Irving also needs the ball in his hands so he can work his wicked handle and create off that, and then while Durant could probably be just as effective as a spot-up guy he’ll likely be considered the alpha of the group by many and, thus, will need the ball a good chunk of time, too.

This wouldn’t be like LeBron James joining the Miami Heat when he was the undisputed best player on the team. The Nets have different circumstances and there’s probably going to be a lot of egos to sort through right now and the addition of Harden might be too much for Brooklyn to handle.

LOL) Toronto Raptors

We know you were thinking about it, so to put it to rest here’s what a Harden trade scenario to the Raptors would look like:

If this was a straight two-team deal between Toronto and Houston the Raptors would have to give up one of Pascal Siakam or Kyle Lowry in a deal.

It would be intriguing to see how the Raptors’ coaching staff would integrate Harden into the team’s offence as he’s a player who loves isolation and Toronto’s offensive approach is very much against that, preferring to run a pace-and-space, ball-movement-heavy form of attack.

Harden’s own individual defensive effort can be lacking at times as well as he tries to preserve himself on offence, something that would also probably run the Raptors’ coaching staff — and the players — the wrong way.

So this deal is very, very, very unlikely to happen. But, never say never, and should this actually come to pass you have to wonder if that price would be worth it?

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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