Last week Shams sent out a report about the 76ers and their intention to pursue James Harden ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. 

Nets Interested in Ben Simmons Trade

In the report, Shams stated that James Harden was unhappy in Brooklyn and that instead of the Nets waiting until the offseason, there was a good chance that they could reach a deal with Philly that included Ben Simmons and players in return for James Harden and players. 

From there, fan bases on both sides of the situation exploded online and there was tons of chatter on who was “untouchable” from the Sixers and what they should be willing to give up in order to get a deal done for Harden by February 10th. 

The issue, which I stated from the start, is that only Shams was reporting this news. There was no update from Woj or any other media outlet about the report from Shams. 

Shams has been noted to be a talking head for the Ben Simmons and Klutch Sports camp throughout the entire situation.

With no trade buzz about Ben Simmons and everything leading up to Shams’ report stating that the 76ers would likely wait until the offseason to move him, it should have come as no surprise that no deal was actually being discussed. 

While everyone latched on to Shams report, Steven Nash and the Nets organization came out and said that James Harden is happy in Brooklyn and there was nothing being discussed in terms of trading him.

Nets not Interested in Ben Simmons Trade

On top of that, ESPN and Adrian Wojnarowski released an article today saying that the Brooklyn Nets dismissed Philadelphia 76ers’ interested in James Harden back on January 11th. 

In Woj’s article, there was direct communication between Daryl Morey and John Marks about James Harden. The Nets had ZERO interest in moving Harden.  Woj also reported over the weekend that Harden continues to tell Kevin Durant that he wants to stay in Brooklyn. 

So basically, everything that Scams, Shams said was complete bullshit, right? Probably, but honestly, it’s really hard to figure out what is real and what is fake.

Just this morning, within an hour of ESPN’s report saying that no deal was made and while Brooklyn had already stated there was no trading Harden, Bill Simmons and The Ringer come out and say that the Nets are in fact open to trading for Ben Simmons if Seth Curry is included in the package.

Are you confused yet? I sure am.

As Doc Rivers said, “All of the discussion is from a writer…you know what I mean?” 

I sure do, Doc Rivers. The entire national media has been compromised on both sides, with half of the reporters doing the bidding of Klutch Sports and Ben Simmons while the other side does the bidding for the 76ers organization.

The entire thing is an absolute mess and honestly, the media is starting to look worse than Ben Simmons himself.