76ers basketball president Daryl Morey discussed James Harden’s trade proposal at length during a local radio appearance Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Morey confirmed to Philadelphia’s 97.5 FM that Harden is looking for a trade, The Athletic first reported last month.
- While trying to accommodate Harden’s swap request, Morey added, “Unless we get a very good player or something that we can turn into a very good player, we just won’t do it.”
- Speaking about why Harden wants out, Morey said, “He wants a different contractual situation … If there’s something we can do to help the Sixers, then we’ll look at it.” If we can’t, then we will don’t do it.”
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
What is the probability that a deal will come about?
Well, Morey just put it on record that if he doesn’t like the offer, he won’t be cornered to do anything. It’s interesting to compare the trading situation with Ben Simmons two years ago when Morey waited a long time to swap him for Harden, but what could be most revealing about that, even if Morey said in the same interview that he doesn’t? I don’t see them as analogies because Morey said there was no other deal you could make before the Harden deal went through.
This appears to be a similar situation where the 76ers don’t do anything until something crosses the threshold of what they want. Not only does Morey want a player back who can help the team in 2023-24 (or sign assets to trade for one), but he’s also apparently trying to keep his roster clean for years to come. That’s a lot to deal with all at once and likely limits the types of contracts he wants to rescind. The universe of acceptable returns seems to be getting smaller and smaller. Oh, and as our Sam Amick reported, Harden wants to join the LA Clippers.
So it looks like we’re going to have a long wait for this deal to materialize, and there just wasn’t the kind of communication to suggest anything is definitely going to happen in the end anyway. — Vorkunov
What else Morey said
“James is a very good player. Unfortunately, he’d rather be somewhere else at the moment,” Morey said. “I’ve been in a relationship with him for a long time.” I try to appreciate that. But the reality is that when we look at a trade, it’s one of two things. Either way it will be for a player who continues to help us stay there like we were last year, beating one of the best teams in the East 3-2, the Celtics. Obviously we didn’t make it, but James was instrumental in helping us equalize 3-2. Or we do it for something where, as part of a deal, we get enough draft picks and stuff like that that we can then turn them into a player who can also be a vice president of Joel.
“Unless we get a very good player or something that we can make into a very good player, we just aren’t going to make it. If James changed his mind we would all be thrilled… But for now he prefers to be traded and we’re trying to live up to that.”
Morey also addressed Embiid’s cryptic comments from last Thursday at the UNINTERRUPTED Sports Film Festival, which made headlines after making the rounds on social media on Monday.
“He had fun with it yesterday,” Morey said. “He made those comments at some sort of semi-private event a few days ago. They have just been published. I spoke to him at length yesterday. He spoke to Coach Nurse yesterday… Coach Nurse plans to do some very innovative things at camp that Joel is excited about. He and I have spoken.
“Look at this, at the end of the day he’s talking about the business of the NBA. He wants to win here; he wants to win it for Philly. That’s the only place he wants to win. He was definitely referring to the fact that he’s not in full control of where he is at all times.”
backstory
League sources told The Athletic last month that Harden would finalize his $35.6 million deal for next season so the 10-time NBA All-Star and the 76ers could work together on a trade from Philadelphia.
Harden, 33, averaged 21 points and 10.7 assists per game last season. He was traded (along with Paul Millsap) from Brooklyn to Philadelphia in 2022 for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks. Harden signed a two-year, $68,640,000 contract with the 76ers prior to last season after accepting a roughly $15 million pay cut as free agency.
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(Photo: Bill Streicher / USA Today)