Star 76ers point guard James Harden is on the trade block, requesting a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers due to contract disputes. Harden has gone as far as to call Sixers President Daryl Morey a “liar” and has said that he will never play for a team that has Daryl Morey, but the elite playmaker has more time left on his contract and this has left a complete mystery with what will happen to “The Beard.”
James Harden has bounced around teams the last few seasons, as he has played 1.5 seasons with Philly and a year in Brooklyn after an almost decade long tenure with Houston. With Houston, Harden and Morey had a great friendship. Daryl Morey had pulled the strings to get Harden to Philadelphia, which makes it so confusing how their once great friendship quickly evaporated.
Over the offseason, James Harden has gone on a rampage to get out of Philly, firstly requesting a trade and after that was not fulfilled, he would publicly call Daryl Morey a liar and even said he would never play for a team that is managed by Morey again. Harden would then go on to call the relationship between him and Morey “beyond repair.”
James Harden has been linked to the Los Angeles Clippers, who have tried adding new pieces around star duo Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. A deal never came through, as the Sixers were asking for too much, as a report from Sixers writer Keith Pompey said, “The Sixers want draft picks and an elite player in a trade package for Harden.”
Harden will be incredibly difficult to be involved in a trade as SB Nation writer Ricky O’Donnell states “He fancies himself as a max player, but it appears the league no longer values him as such.” The now injury prone 2018 MVP has lost his elite first step and a lot of his athleticism, and as such a bad defensive player, once Harden’s offensive fell from that otherworldly level it used to be, he could never recover.
This Harden situation goes further than the immediate future though, as star center Joel Embiid will undoubtedly be affected by it. Though Embiid has voiced his support for the front office, this will most likely be another season not making the Conference Finals, something that cannot sit well with the MVP. If Harden walks for nothing, or a lowly return and the 76ers cannot make a winning team around Embiid, do not be surprised if “The Process” is on the trade block.
