Pacers legend Reggie Miller believes that the Brooklyn Nets can still flourish without James Harden

Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller who won the Gold medal at the 1996 Olympics with the United States recently made a shocking claim regarding the Brooklyn Nets. He recently made an appearance on the Don Patrick Show, where he talked about James Harden’s influence on the Nets.

The Steve Nash coached side are comfortably sitting in the second position in the Eastern Conference despite missing some of their key players for the majority of the regular season due to injuries. Their so called ‘Big Three’ are yet to play together but still, they have not had much trouble this season.

However, with their focus on the playoffs, the Nets and the NBA fans are waiting to see Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant play together. However, Miller recently claimed on the podcast that he feels James Harden is the player whom the Nets can afford to lose among the big three.

“Probably James Harden, because we’ve kind of seeing that now. I think they can’t afford to lose KD for an extended period of time because he is arguably the best player in my opinion in the league and he’s closer.

“Kyrie would be second because of his ball-handling and shot-making ability, and I think when James Harden does eventually return, he is going to take on the de facto point guard. He’s going to defer a lot and score when he needs to, but I think he’ll be the bonafide true point guard on this team once he returns,” Miller reasoned.

The Beard however has registered some great statistics this season, averaging 25.2 points per game along with 10.9  assists and 8 boards. His field goal efficiency is also pretty good as Harden is close to averaging a triple-double this season.

The 9-time NBA All-Star has improved his playmaking this season and coupled with his exceptional perimeter shooting, the Nets have a big weapon in Harden. He is one of the vital pieces for Steve Nash and his presence in the playoffs may also elevate the performances of Durant and Irving. Hence the presence of the trio makes the Nets an outright favourite to win the NBA Championship this season.