The Philadelphia 76ers have once again left a lot to be desired when it mattered the most, falling shorter than expected in the 2023 NBA playoffs. Now, the team is facing an uncertain future with James Harden reportedly wanting out.
The Beard picked up his $35.6 million but to work on a trade this offseason. This situation definitely threatens the Sixers’ aspirations, since Harden originally arrived to help Joel Embiid challenge for the championship.
Of course, the 33-year-old has already drawn interest around the league and Philly has reportedly been engaged in conversations with other teams. However, it looks like the front office still hopes to convince Harden to change his mind.
Rumor: 76ers want to convince Harden to stay
According to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey as well as other executives want James Harden to stay in the City of Brotherly Love:
“I think there’s two rails with this James Harden situation. You have an organization that would still love to keep him in Philadelphia for the season. Daryl Morey, their president, he’s got a long history with James Harden, and certainly, I think if there’s a way as the summer goes on to try to convince him that they can still make this work together, that he has a chance to compete for a championship, they’ve got a new coach Nick Nurse with the Sixers,” Woj said, via SixersWire.
“At the same time, they are talking to teams. The Clippers remain a team very interested in James Harden. They’ve been looking for a point guard there the last couple of years. I think those are conversations that will evolve, but you saw with Daryl Morey a couple years ago with Ben Simmons, he slow played it. They were unsuccessful in getting Ben Simmons back into the fold, but they didn’t have the relationship with Simmons that this group does have, especially Morey he has with Harden, but I think this is gonna be again like Portland’s situation. One that may play out over the summer. There may be no quick resolution. We have a lot of time before training camp in September.“
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The head-scratching reason why James Harden didn"t want to return to Houston
It wasn’t that long ago that the Sixers made an effort to get Harden, so it makes sense if they want to try it at least one more time before giving up. Whether Harden has any interest in running things back remains to be seen.
