James Harden finds himself a 76er, thanks to a trade that not many predicted would happen as soon as the trade deadline this season, but ended up going through at that time anyway. The Beard’s connection with Sixers’ Head of Basketball Operations, Daryl Morey is well known, and once his discontent in Brooklyn became common knowledge, it seemed like only a matter of time before he ended up in Philadelphia.
Obviously, the situation with Joel Embiid playing at an MVP level is ideal for Harden but there were always rumors that he would find his way to Philly. And this has caused some issues for other teams in the NBA. According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, many teams are hoping that the NBA will investigate Harden as well as the Sixers for being in contact before the trade with Brooklyn went through.
“Several teams believe the NBA should investigate Philadelphia’s contact with Harden and his representatives. Of course, backchannel negotiations and conversations underscore most dramatic transactions in today’s league.”
To be fair, even if there has been some contact before the trade, this is hardly unheard of for the modern NBA, many such suspicions have existed with different teams involved in bigger moves in recent NBA history. But considering that an Embiid-Harden combo is almost an automatic championship contender, it’s no surprise that other teams want the issue investigated.
Harden, for his part, is already with the Sixers and is looking forward to what things will look like when he can take the court for his new team. The guard made no secret of his desire to leave Brooklyn and since the trade, even his teammates have seemed more or less happy that Harden is now with another franchise. The two teams are scheduled to face one another in early March, in a game that promises to be extremely feisty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDteWZMUf_0
