When James Harden decided to opt in on the final year of his deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, he did it with the sole purpose of finding himself another team. It would be his fourth NBA team in as many years.
Given his age, history of injuries, and well-documented off-court activities, the market for the former MVP isn’t as big as it used to be back in the day. Also, it’s not like he balled out in the playoffs.
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NBA Rumors: Another team shuts the door on James Harden
Even so, the Los Angeles Clippers are reportedly adamant about acquiring him in a trade. Nonetheless, Zach Lowe of ESPN recently revealed that they won’t give up Terance Mann or Norman Powell to get him.
NBA Rumors: Clippers Won’t Give Up Depth To Get James Harden
“I just don’t think there’s a lot out there for James Harden,” Lowe said. “I just don’t sense that there’s a big appetite among teams to trade Philadelphia real stuff. I don’t think the Knicks are super interested in James Harden. If they could get him on the ultra, ultra cheap, that’s one thing.”
“I don’t know that Philly wants to do that,” added Lowe. “The Clippers, from what I’ve heard, they have been reluctant so far to offer Mann, picks, maybe even Powell, and I don’t know that the two sides have really even had super significant dialogue. And I don’t really know what you do from there.”
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The head-scratching reason why James Harden didn"t want to return to Houston
Truth be told, it’s going to be almost impossible to land Harden unless they give up those players, unless they’re willing to give up Paul George or Kawhi Leonard. Then again, we’ve seen crazier things happen in this league.
