James Harden leaving the Brooklyn Nets to engineer a move to the Philadelphia 76ers may have seemed like a ridiculous suggestion at first and it is still incredibly unlikely, but there’s some semblance of possibility there. There have been reports that the NBA could be asked to step in and investigate the possibility of collusion between Harden and the Sixers over his possible choices in the coming offseason.
Daryl Morey has gone through similar scrutiny before when he got Chris Paul for the Houston Rockets. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report has explained that it was a similar situation, in which Paul reportedly gave the Clippers an ultimatum which is what eventually led to his move to Houston.
“Meanwhile, other teams are concerned that Sixers executive Daryl Morey is tampering with Harden like they believed he did in his run with the Houston Rockets to acquire Chris Paul.
“Paul had a player option heading into the 2017-18 offseason with the Los Angeles Clippers. The team had hoped to re-sign the All-Star guard long term. Instead, he apparently gave the Clippers an ultimatum: trade me to the Rockets, or I’ll opt out and leave outright as a free agent.”
“Similarly, Harden has a $47.4 million player option with the Brooklyn Nets next season. Some fear Morey and Harden will try to follow the Paul game plan. What’s a little different this offseason is that very few teams project to have cap room.
“Would Harden be able to bluff the Nets into a deal, with the threat of signing with the Detroit Pistons (the only team even close to the kind of cap room to give the veteran guard a max contract)? Or perhaps Harden can just opt in for one final year with the Nets, making it clear he will leave the following year when more teams have cap room.”
Ultimately, the only facts right now are that James Harden is somewhat unhappy with the situation around the Brooklyn Nets and that he has a player option in his contract ahead of next season. While the Sixers likely want Harden, any possible move is heavily contingent upon how the rest of this season plays itself out.
