The Philadelphia 76ers and James Harden seem destined for divorce.
Harden has expressed a desire to play elsewhere, and the Sixers are no doubt underwhelmed by what he and Joel Embiid have been able to accomplish together so far.
That said, a mutually beneficial trade is easier said than done.
Harden has one specific landing spot in his sights, but Philly obviously needs to get a deal worth making presented to them. Thus far, they haven’t.
According to NBA insider Kyle Neubeck, the 76ers are expecting a lot in return for their future Hall of Famer guard.
“Philadelphia’s position on a James Harden trade has been described as ‘unreasonable’ by competing executives, while the team has pushed back on that notion,” he wrote.
“They view their path to a Harden trade to accomplish one of two things — they want to get back a package that allows them to stay in the same tier of contention, sources say, or to make a trade that returns enough assets back to flip for another high-level player.”
There is also growing doubt that Philadelphia will be able to rope in other organizations to help them make this trade happen.
“While there has been a lot of speculation that the Sixers could try to spin a Harden trade into a multi-team deal to chase a star, there does seem to be some pushback on the idea that they could execute that style of asset-flipping trade simultaneously with a Harden deal,” Neubeck continued.
“The Sixers would prefer to be able to make or keep the team as competitive as possible as soon as possible, but they believe that requires getting an All-Star-level return for Harden in the event that they trade him.”
The Los Angeles Clippers have made their position clear. There are two players, aside from Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, that are off the table.
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— Game 7 (@game7__) July 18, 2023
If the Sixers can’t get over that, then the Clippers are fine with not getting Harden.
At the moment, a stalemate has ensued. How long it will last is anyone’s guess.
Will the 76ers ultimately trade Harden somewhere before the 2023-24 NBA season commences? Time will tell.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
