February 10, 2022
Are you avoiding making a public trade request if the biggest reporter in the business is aware of your desire to go elsewhere? That's a question James Harden will have to answer in the coming days and weeks, it seems, with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that Harden is fearful of making a trade request because of how it would come off to the public.
Let's unpack this a little bit:
Although Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden wants a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers, he has resisted making that formal request out of fear of the public backlash that would come with asking out of a second franchise in consecutive seasons, sources told ESPN.
Harden is hopeful that 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey secures a trade for him prior to Thursday's 3 p.m. ET NBA trade deadline, but Morey and Nets general manager Sean Marks have yet to become engaged in serious dialogue on a deal, sources said.
There's still an expectation that the sides will communicate Thursday and the possibility of a deal remains, but both teams are left measuring the risk-reward of a Harden deal, sources said.
A trade may hinge on Morey's willingness to include assets, beyond exiled guard Ben Simmons, needed to convince the Nets to unload Harden against the cost of creating the salary cap space to sign Harden in summer free agency. Philadelphia could re-engage the Nets on an opt-in and trade strategy in the offseason, too. [ESPN]
I genuinely think this is a fair concern for Harden, who arrived in Brooklyn with much different expectations for how this whole super team thing would go down. Harden wanted to win when he left Houston, and he wanted to join a team that cut down on his workload some after being the center of the universe with the Rockets. What he got in Brooklyn was something different than he was after, with Kyrie Irving's part-time status screwing with the team all season, even more so after Kevin Durant went down with an injury this year. But nobody is going to care much about those facts, choosing instead to amplify Harden's past failures along with his desire to get out of Brooklyn as an indictment of him.
Here's the problem with this route, though — submitting a public and formal trade request is the path out of here, the thing that both sides of this trade discussion have sort of been waiting on. And Harden's oft-discussed performance against the Sacramento Kings last week sent a message about his unhappiness loud and clear even without getting to the point of a public trade request. If worrying about public perception or how this move would be received was what mattered here, Harden could simply have played in a way that reflects his usual standard of play, but that didn't happen either.\
In any case, this report leaking out from Wojnarowski might just be the juice this standoff needs in order for things to get rolling. Without Harden saying the words themselves, this is about as clear as you're going to get before this afternoon's deadline. All that's left to settle now is whether Brooklyn and Philly will meet in the middle and get this thing done, which seems just a bit more likely than it was when everyone went to sleep last night.
As a refresher of where the Sixers stand on all this, they have been clear throughout this process that they shouldn't have to give up a haul for Harden because of the exact dynamic Wojnarowski reported on Thursday morning. They have been adamant that they should not have to give up more than Ben Simmons in order to get a deal with Brooklyn done, protecting Tyrese Maxey from inclusion in a deal while sending strong signals that Matisse Thybulle should be considered close to off-limits. Starting guard Seth Curry has been considered the most gettable good (and active) player on Philadelphia's roster, with the Sixers confident they can acquire Harden or a player like Harden in the summer if this deal isn't done before the deadline.
Tobias Harris and his contract loom large in whatever belief they have to sign Harden outright in the summer. The Sixers believe they have at least two suitors they could move Harris to in order to clear significant cap space, with the Oklahoma City Thunder an obvious candidate to take on his contract for draft compensation, sources told PhillyVoice earlier this week. The question on Brooklyn's end has been whether that possibility — and Philadelphia's suggestion they could waive-and-stretch Harris to clear the room if necessary — is an honest-to-god possibility or a threat meant to scare them out of a favorable deal.
We're ultimately going to know where everybody falls on this by the time the deadline passes later today. This latest twist in the saga ultimately tips the battlefield in favor of the Sixers, though they're under pressure even if they won't admit it. With a chance to bring in a star who wants to play for their franchise, a title contention shot is on the table today. It's up to Daryl Morey and Co. to go out and seize it.
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