The Philadelphia 76ers took a risk by trading for James Harden in February 2022. While The Beard is undoubtedly a talented player, his lack of playoff success and history of trade requests suggested he wasn’t the perfect target to help Joel Embiid.
In the end, the veteran guard proved his doubters right. Harden failed to perform when it mattered the most, as the Sixers suffered back-to-back second-round eliminations.
This offseason, only a year and a half after leaving the Nets, Harden submitted a trade request out of Philadelphia. The Sixers didn’t grant his wish until this week, when they sent him to the Los Angeles Clippers. Though the move didn’t go as they expected, Daryl Morey has no regrets about pursuing Harden back then.
“In this case, I think with the information we had at the time — which is I think how you can judge things — it was a very good trade,” Morey said, via ClutchPoints. “Obviously, we were in a tough situation then and when you’re in that and you jump to something, you want to continue to give yourself a chance to win — just like this trade did. Obviously, this one still is to be written a little bit with like, some of the assets we got.”
The fractured relationship between Daryl Morey and James Harden
One of the biggest storylines when Harden joined the Sixers was his reunion with Morey, who had already traded for The Beard when he was the general manager of the Houston Rockets.
They had a great memory from each other after their time together in Houston, which is why they did everything to reunite in the City of Brotherly Love. Harden failed to help Embiid in last year’s playoffs, but Morey decided to give him another chance.
Their relationship ended up taking a huge twist this offseason. After another playoff collapse, the Sixers didn’t feel like giving Harden the supermax extension he demanded. The guard opted into his player option but only to be traded, and there was no turning back.
Harden made his thoughts about Morey abundantly clear in the summer, calling the Sixers’ President of Basketball Operations a “liar,” claiming he will never be part of an organization run by Morey again. In the weeks prior to the Clippers trade, Harden said his relationship with the 76ers front office was beyond repair.
Harden gets what he wants, again
Though it took him months, Harden finally got traded to the Clippers, his preferred landing spot this offseason. In January 2021, it was the Nets. The following year, it was the Sixers.
Harden has constantly changed locations seeking to increase his chances of winning an elusive ring, but it feels like he never spends enough time with one team to win that coveted championship.
Now he’ll be part of a star-studded team next to the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook. On paper, we’re talking about a possible contender. But many things can happen between now and May.
Harden has to be prepared for that. Injuries have already held the Clippers back in the last few years, so the title challenge may not be that easy. Besides, the Western Conference is stacked this season. The question is whether Harden will stick to them anyway, because his reputation for constantly changing teams raises doubts.
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The Sixers hoped they wouldn’t experience the same the Rockets and Nets did before, but they turned out to be just another team in Harden’s career. Even so, Morey still believes their decision to go after him made sense. “This bet I thought was very good,” Morey said. “I continue to think it was the right bet…Being good at my job requires me to go back and think, ‘Were there any different paths to take?’ I don’t see any knowing all the things that were available. So, I think it was the right bet. We’d do the same thing.”
