The Brooklyn Nets will trade James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers in a deal that centers around Ben Simmons.

• The Philadelphia 76ers will acquire guard James Harden from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a package centered around guard Ben Simmons.
• While Simmons has sat out the entire season for Philadelphia, Harden has reportedly grown frustrated in Brooklyn.
• The 76ers will receive Paul Millsap, in addition to Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks from the Nets.

Before the NBA's trade deadline on Thursday, the league's largest domino fell.

According to The Athletic and ESPN, the Brooklyn Nets will trade guard James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for a package that includes guard Ben Simmons, forward Paul Millsap, and two first-round draft picks. In return, the Nets will give up guard Seth Curry and center Andre Drummond.

The trade between the Nets and Rockets will ease the tension between the two teams, which both entered the season with championship aspirations. The former MVP Harden has reportedly grown frustrated in Brooklyn due to the Nets' struggles, including an injury to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving's limited availability due to his refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Simmons has declined to play for the 76ers this season, despite being a one-time All-NBA player, after he was blamed for the team's collapse in the playoffs last season. The 76ers and center Joel Embiid, a leading MVP candidate this season, have continued to excel without Simmons.

The trade in Brooklyn ended a brief experiment, which resulted in Harden joining Durant and Irving. Despite playing only 16 games together, the trio had a significant impact on the team's success.

In the playoffs last season, the Nets, who were without Harden and Irving for most of the series, lost to the eventual champions, the Milwaukee Bucks.

Philadelphia aimed to enhance its team around Embiid to fully showcase his exceptional performance this season. Harden, 32, will reunite with Philadelphia's basketball operations president, Daryl Morey.

As a Houston Rockets executive, Morey acquired Harden, who contributed to the team's rise to one of the top franchises in the league during the 2010s.

Simmons, the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, helped Embiid lead the 76ers to perennial playoff contention through "The Process," years of deliberate losing in the mid-2010s to accumulate top draft picks and other assets.

Simmons faced criticism from fans for his failure to shoot during his team's Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the playoffs. At a crucial juncture in the game, the 6-foot-11-inch Simmons passed up a dunk when the 6-foot-1-inch Atlanta guard Trae Young was the closest defender.

The upset win of Atlanta over Philadelphia and Simmons' decision not to shoot led to the guard's impasse with his team this year.