When James Harden forced his way out of Brooklyn a year ago, there was a narrative that “he better get it right in Philadelphia, his legacy is on the line after leaving Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.”

A year later, after Durant and Irving have forced their way out of Brooklyn, Harden looks prescient.

And he’s not surprised Durant and Irving followed him out of Brooklyn.

“I didn’t just ask to leave for no reason…” Harden said Saturday, via the Associated Press.

“There was just a lot of dysfunction – clearly. There were many internal things that I’m not going to ever just say or put in the media or anything, and that was one of the reasons I chose to make my decision…

“But now, fast forward to today, I don’t look like the crazy one. I don’t look like the guy, or the quitter or whatever the media want to call me. Like, I knew what was going on and I just decided to, like, I’m not built for this. I don’t want to deal with that. I want to play basketball and have fun and enjoy doing it.”

Harden is too savvy to get into the details of the dysfunction he saw in Brooklyn, but he clearly feels vindicated.

There was context beyond dysfunction that led to Harden leaving the Nets — and the three stars were the cause of some of the issues. Harden pushed his way out of Houston to play with Irving and Durant — to chase a ring — but Irving was only playing road games due to his vaccination stance (and the New York City vaccine mandate), while Durant was out with a knee injury. The “big three” only played 16 games together, and soon after Harden forced his way to Philadelphia.

Harden comes out of Brooklyn looking like the smart guy who got it, but he still has a lot of legacy on the line heading into these playoffs.

Sometimes, especially around the trade deadline, we can be wrapped up in the mechanics of the NBA — team building, transactions, and what a team did or did not do at the deadline to set themselves up in the playoffs. At other times we get sucked into the Xs and Os or load management debates, and focus on the negatives of what our team or a specific player cannot do. We talk about the impact on the league that the showcase ABC Saturday game had LeBron James and Stephen Curry in street clothes (both due to legit injuries).

Sometimes we lose the childlike joy of being a fan, of the love of the game and the players.

Enter 12-year-old Gaia, who just was excited to sit next to LeBron on Saturday at the Chase Center.

When asked about it during the broadcast, Gaia said: “When I looked up, I see Lebron James, and what’s going through my mind is just like ‘oh my god. The greatest player of all time in basketball is sitting next to me.'” She said he had asked for these tickets hoping to see LeBron set the all-time scoring record (which he did Tuesday at home against Oklahoma City), but was just excited to be there.

After the game, LeBron talked to her and took some pictures, then said on his Instagram story this is why he loves playing the game.

Sometimes, just take a step back and just enjoy the game, the moment, the best players in the world excelling at a game we love.

Two of the top contenders in the West are getting a little deeper via the buyout market.

The Phoenix Suns need to replenish their depth after sending a lot of good players to Brooklyn to land Kevin Durant (a trade they would make 100 times out of 100). Terrence Ross will help with that. The veteran wing is in buyout talks with the Magic and then will head to join Durant in Phoenix, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Dallas had been considered a frontrunner, but the Suns can offer the compelling combination of minutes and the chance to play with Durant. Ross is a veteran wing with a good catch-and-shoot game, is hitting 38.1% from 3 this season, and can do some secondary playmaking as needed.

The Denver Nuggets traded away reserve point guard Bones Hyland at the deadline, now they are going to fill that roster spot with Reggie Jackson, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Jackson started 38 games for the Clippers this season and averaged 10.9 points a game while shooting 35% from 3, but the Clippers wanted to remake their guard spot to play better with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, so Jackson was traded for backup big man Mason Plumlee. In Denver, he will come off the bench behind Jamal Murray but should be an upgrade over Ish Smith in those minutes.

This is just the start of what likely will be a busy buyout market this year.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — De'Aaron Fox scored 36 points, including six free throws in the final 18.4 seconds of overtime, leading the Sacramento Kings to a 133-128 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.

“Most point guards don’t guard me,” Fox said. “It’s a bit different for me. … It’s a lot, but I feel like I was blessed with the tools to be able to do that.”

Fox shot 12 of 23 from the field and scored 26 of his points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Domantas Sabonis had 22 points and 14 rebounds for his NBA-leading 44th double-double of the season before fouling out with 1:27 remaining in overtime.

Terence Davis also scored 22 points off the bench, and Kevin Huerter added 15.

“Heck of a job by our guys,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “Defensively, we did a pretty good job in both second halves. … We had a lot of great individual performances.”

Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and Luka Doncic had 25 points and nine rebounds in the stars’ first game on the court together as Mavericks teammates.

“I thought it was good,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “It was just natural. Nothing forced. It’s going to make us that much better. They did an incredible job.”

Irving was acquired by Dallas from Brooklyn on Monday before the trade deadline. Josh Green added 23 points.

“Amazing, only our first game together, but I think it’s so fun to play with this guy,” Doncic said of playing with Irving. “He’s an amazing basketball player and I think it’s going to be really fun and today, first game, it was really fun, too.”

Russell Westbrook has options. He could report to Utah and play whatever limited role the team has for him the rest of the season, although that choice seems highly unlikely. He could just sit out the rest of the season and collect his checks.

Or — most likely — he can agree to a buyout with the Jazz and become a free agent. The Bulls, Heat and Clippers are trying to recruit him. Westbrook is expected to take a little time with his decision and make it over the All-Star break, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The Bulls are considered the frontrunner to land Westbrook, partly because of his ties to coach Billy Donovan, who coached Westbrook in Oklahoma City. The Bulls also have a need at point guard, where Lonzo Ball has not played for them this season due to a slow recovery from a second knee surgery.

After the Clippers’ loss to the Bucks on Friday, Paul George said he reached out to Westbrook and tried to sell him on remaining in Los Angeles, just with the other team.

“I’ve talked to him just to kind of see where his head is and to see if there is anything I can do…” George said via the Associated Press. “I’m a big believer and a fan of what Russ’ work is, having one of my best seasons in my career alongside of him. I’ve seen what he can do night in and night out. I really think he can improve the team. He’s such a big talent. He rebounds, he finds guys, he makes the game easy for everyone. I think he will come in, mesh, figure out how we play, and adjust to it.”

The Lakers traded Westbrook to Utah in a three-team blockbuster that also sent Mike Conley to the Timberwolves.