Getty Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns. Booker and Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic got into a heated exchange on March 5.
Despite James Harden opting into the final year of his contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, he is no longer interested in playing for the franchise and is looking to get traded before next season starts, per ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
“Harden, 33, could’ve negotiated a new deal with the Sixers upon becoming a free agent, but he decided with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey that they would start working on a way to move Harden less than two years after his arrival in a February 2022 trade with the Brooklyn Nets, sources said,” Wojnarowski said.
Following the report that Harden is seeking a trade, the former NBA Most Valuable Player was spotted at former Sixers owner Michael Rubin’s 4th of July party with Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker. (H/T @NBACentral)
James Harden hanging out with Tom Brady and Devin Booker
James Harden Had Interest in Joining Suns
It is pretty farfetched to believe that Harden could land with the Suns this offseason, especially after landing Bradley Beal to pair with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. However, it is not out of the question if the Suns really wanted to make it happen. Earlier this offseason, NBA insider Brian Geltzeiler of NBA TV said the Suns were “prominently” on Harden’s radar ahead of the free agency period.
“With free agency pending for James Harden, I am hearing there is another team prominently on his radar in addition to Houston. That team is the Phoenix Suns,” Geltzeiler tweeted back in May.
With free agency pending for James Harden, I’m hearing there is another team prominently on is radar in addition to Houston. That team is the Phoenix Suns.
However, that was before Harden opted into the final year of his deal with the Sixers.
The Suns are also familiar territory for the 10-time All-Star. A trade to Phoenix would reunite Harden with Kevin Durant. Durant and Harden have been teammates on the Oklahoma City Thunder and Brooklyn Nets.
Harden’s lone finals appearance of his career was in 2012 when he was Durant’s teammate on the Thunder and was in a more conservative role off the bench. He also won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award that same season. Entering a situation with three prominent scorers in Beal, Durant, and Booker would allow him to have a similar role in Phoenix.
Sixers Don’t Have Interest in Any of the Suns’ Players
The Suns will likely want to keep the All-Star trio of Beal, Durant, and Booker together in any potential trade packages. And with that being the case, the only thing of note they have to offer the Sixers in a deal for Harden is their starting center Deandre Ayton.
The Suns drafted Ayton with the top pick in 2018, and he was a big part of helping them reach the NBA Finals in 2021. But in his last two postseason appearances, Ayton has simply not shown up. In the 2023 playoffs, he was often benched by Monty Williams and had to share the minutes at center with undrafted center Jock Landale.
Per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Suns tried to include Ayton in a deal with the Sixers that would have landed them Tobias Harris, but their general manager Daryl Morey declined.
“The Sixers have no interest in the 7-foot, 250-pounder with three years and $102 million left on his contract. And why would they when franchise player and reigning MVP Joel Embiid, like Ayton, plays center?” Pompey said of a potential Ayton to the Sixers deal.
“The Sixers also don’t have any interest in any of the players the Suns would make available.”