‘Uglier Battle’ May Be Looming Between Sixers, James Harden: Report

Getty James Harden

The Philadelphia 76ers and James Harden have been in a staring contest since he opted into his contract on June 29. Harden wants to be traded elsewhere, and the Sixers refuse to trade him for the sake of trading him. Neither side has budged, and according to Philly Voice’s Kyle Neubeck, it won’t get better.

“James Harden continues to push for a trade out of town following a disagreement over how free agency was handled this summer. Teammates have tried to give Harden a lifeline by reinforcing their desire to play with him next season, though those efforts do not seem to have changed the problem at hand,” Neubeck wrote.

Neubeck added that while Harden has no issues with his teammates, the standoff between him and the front office could get uglier from here.

“Harden and his representation may not hold ill will toward his teammates, but there’s still a rift between him/them and management, and there is a growing expectation that rift could lead to an even uglier battle, sources said.”

Sixers Stance on James Harden Trade Deemed ‘Unreasonable’

Neubeck also gave the latest on how other executives around the NBA see the Sixers’ demands in return for Harden.

“Philadelphia’s position on a Harden trade has been described as “unreasonable” by competing executives, while the team has pushed back on that notion,” Neubeck 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.”

Neubeck added why the Sixers want a monumental return in exchange for Harden.

“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. 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.”

Trading Harden is a tricky ordeal because his deal is expiring, and teams don’t typically trade good assets for someone who could leave the following offseason.

Daryl Morey in No Rush to Trade James Harden

On July 13, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported that Morey is not rushing a trade anytime soon for Harden despite his request.

“Rival executives with whom I spoke at summer league were universally convinced that the Sixers are now attempting to keep Harden. Discontent be damned.

“The sluggish trade talks between the Sixers and Clippers about Harden would seem to support this stance. Morey is known to be asking for the kind of return that — as of Tuesday afternoon — left the strong impression that he had no genuine interest in getting a deal done anytime soon,” Amick wrote.