James Harden TRADED to the Clippers!

WOW, BIG BREAKING NEWS! James Harden is a member of the Los Angeles Clippers!

I was walking my dog and getting ready for bed and I had this thought, “I’ve sent a bunch of substack emails recently- but I have nothing for tomorrow!”

Until Woj dropped a 💣. James Harden has been dealt to the Clippers!

There is usually a betting angle worth attacking after a big news drop, and I think I found it! So lets start with the resulting best bet (this is a betting newsletter), and then some general thoughts on the trade.

Orlando Magic +7.5 (CZ, 1unit)
The best way to attack the fallout of the James Harden to Clippers Trade is to play the Orlando Magic +7.5 against the Clippers on 10/31. This game occurs less than 24 hours after the trade news, making it very unlikely that Harden and Tucker suit up for their new look Clippers so quickly (Harden is also yet to play this season and barely practiced pre season, he will need a little ramp up time). The Clippers shipped out 4 players, 33% of their active roster, and will be limited to 8 NBA players + calling up some G Leaguers to fill end of bench minutes. Because of the depth issue, and the Clippers probably the one team who wont overextend their stars this early in the season, there will likely be money and movement coming back on the Orlando side. The concern for the Magic here are second leg of a B2B in LA. No travel since they just played the Lakers, but they may be hitting the town tonight lol.

Russell Westbrook 6MOY 60:1 DK, 1unit
Russ likely moves to bench with this news and then fits every criteria for typical award winner. Hes a scoring guard on a winning team, a stat stuffer in short minutes, and a first ballot HOFer accepting a role change which will be a narrative driver. I jumped on CP3 20:1 a few days ago, its at 12:1 now, and russ will soon catch up.

Alright, interested in my sports opinion? Although I never bet based on my sports opinion (I do what the calculator says), I do have some steaming hot takes!

This is the order in which I had the thoughts chronologically, not ordered in terms of importance.

1. WOW, James Harden got what he wanted.

2. Whatever happened behind the scenes between Morey and Harden to cause a fallout, 76ers fans should be MAD at Daryl Morey. His actions caused a riff and it subsequently made the team so much worse.

3. Specific to the trade package, a complete steal for LA. Is Lawrence Frank sending Daryl Morey a winter fleece to wear around Philly as the weather drops? Because this was a stone cold fleecing.

4. James is going to be a tremendous fit in Clipperland. Kawhi is best off ball with some iso moments, PG is a swiss army knife, and James is going to initiate so much of the action and help during the tough stretches when the Clippers offense would stall.

5. The odds drop for Maxey going from like 11:1 to 3:1 for most improved player way before the news, I think the books had an idea this was coming. Maxey been balling, but the price drop showed incoming ROS volume share.

6. The 76ers are poised for a down year with everyone clamoring for Embiid to ask out next. Not happening. The 76ers will either look to make another deal, or will go into next summer with Embiid, Maxey, and space to add 2 more stars. Embiid will wait to see what the team looks like before jumping ship to a place like NYK, where the Knicks aren’t even ready to contend that much better than Philly if the deal happened now. Embiid is now likely to play around 50 games this season and represent Team USA next summer. The real question becomes, who is recruiting Joel during next years Olympics? We know Team USA is a breeding ground for player led tampering, and now the biggest fish will be at the Center of the pond (pun intended).

7. Clippers, Suns, Denver, Bucks, Celtics. Any of them can win it all, Clips have entered this group of Tier 1 teams.

8. The other pieces: Win for PJ Tucker. Win for Maxey and Tobias keeping these numbers up all season. Prob potential re trades and buy outs coming to guys like Covington, Morris, Martin etc. Win for Bball Paul? Lets hope.

9. I always wonder so badly what the other players are thinking. When the stars in the west- Lebron, Steph, Jokic, KD, see this trade incoming, what do they think about the competition level? Like i wish we had a real genuine true behind the curtains reaction, but sadly we will never get it. What do Tatum and Giannis think about the East now? and in the same vein but deserving of his own seperate bullet point and to round out the top 10.

10. What in the world is Russell Westbrook thinking? He rejoins with Harden, again, AND likely gets relegated to the bench. Is my Russ 6th man ticket about to be AWESOME?! Is this a battle of Russ vs CP3 for which Hall of Fame veteran wins 6MOY?

Let me know your thoughts and reactions to the trade, the bet, or my takes!