76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey discussed James Harden’s trade request at length during a local radio appearance Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Morey confirmed to Philadelphia radio station 97.5 FM that Harden is seeking trade, eg the athlete It was first reported last month.
- While trying to fulfill Harden’s trade request, Morey added, “If we don’t get a very good player or something we can turn him into a very good player, we won’t.”
- When discussing why Harden wanted out, Morey said, “He’d wish for a different contractual situation… If we can do something that’s win-win, helps the Sixers, we’ll look at it. If we can’t, we won’t.”
the athleteInstant Analysis:
What is the probability of closing the deal?
Well, Morey just made it clear, officially, that he wouldn’t be pushed into a corner to get something done if he didn’t like the show. It’s interesting to use Ben Simmons’ business situation two years ago as a company, when Morey waited so long to deal with him for Harden, but what might be more instructive than that, even as Morey said in the same interview that he wouldn’t see them as peers, is That Morey said there was no other trade to be made before the Harden deal emerged.
This seems like 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 2023-24 team (or draft assets he can use to trade in for one), but he’s also apparently trying to keep his cap clean for years ahead. That’s a lot to navigate in one go and may limit the type of contracts he’s willing to redeem. The world of acceptable returns seems to be dwindling. Oh, and as reported by Sam Amick, Harden wants to go to the Los Angeles Clippers.
So it looks like we’ve been waiting a long time for this deal to be finalized, and there hasn’t been some kind of message to indicate that something will definitely get done in the end, anyway. – Vorokunov
What did Morey say?
“James is a very good player. At the moment, unfortunately, he’d rather be somewhere else,” Morey said. I have a long relationship with him. I try to honor that. But the truth is, if we’re looking at a deal, it’s for one of two things. Either it’s a player who continues to help us be there like we were last year, going 3-2 over one of the best teams in the East, the Celtics. We obviously didn’t get it done but James was a big part of why we won 3-2. Or we’ll do it for something where we get enough draft picks and things like that in a deal so that we can then turn those into a player who can be a running mate with Joel as well.
“If we don’t get a very good player or something we can turn him into a very good player, we won’t. If James changes his mind we’ll all be thrilled…but at the moment he’d prefer to be traded and we’re trying to respect that.”
Morey also addressed Embiid’s cryptic comments he made last Thursday at the Uninterrupted Sports Film Festival, which made headlines after making the rounds on social media on Monday.
“He enjoyed this yesterday,” Morey said. “He made these comments several days ago at a semi-private event. It just went public. I spoke to him at length yesterday. He spoke to Coach Nurse yesterday… and Coach Nurse is planning to do some very innovative things at training camp which Joel is excited about. He and I talked .
“Look at part of it, at the end of the day he’s talking about the NBA business. He wants to win here. He wants to win it for Philly. That’s the only place he wants to win. He was kind of referring to the fact that he’s not completely in his control where he is.” all the time “.
background story
League sources said the athlete Last month, Harden would pick his $35.6 million deal next season for the 10-time NBA All-Star and 76ers to work together in a deal out of Philadelphia.
Harden, 33, averaged 21 points and 10.7 assists per game last season. Traded from Brooklyn to Philadelphia in 2022 (along with Paul Millsap) for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks. Harden signed a two-year, $68,640,000 deal with the 76ers prior to last season after accepting a pay cut of about $15 million in free agency.
required reading
(Photo: Bill Streicher/USA Today)
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”