James Harden’s Trade Standoff With The Sixers Has Reached A New Low

The trade standoff between James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers reached a new low in recent days.

On Saturday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Sixers had ended trade talks involving Harden. He noted that the Sixers spoke with the Los Angeles Clippers, which is where Harden wanted to land, but “no traction on a deal materialized.”

Two days later, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweeted a clip of Harden calling Sixers team president Daryl Morey “a liar” during an Adidas event in China in response to a question about the Sixers calling off trade talks.

According to Wojnarowski, the Sixers “agreed to search out a trade” after Harden picked up his $35.6 million player option for the 2023-24 season, but their “asking price was steep, and no team, including the Clippers, were willing or able to meet it.” In mid-July, Morey confirmed to 97.5 The Fanatic’s Anthony Gargano that he was “attempting to honor” Harden’s trade request, but he stopped short of definitively pledging that he would do so.

“If we don’t get either a very good player or something that we can turn into a very good player, then we’re just not gonna do it,” Morey said about trading Harden.

In late July, Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice said the Clippers had been “fairly unserious about what they’re willing to give up” for Harden. According to multiple reports, they balked at including Terance Mann in talks with the Sixers. Mann, who averaged 8.8 points per game last season for the Clippers, is likely not the caliber of player whom Morey had in mind as the centerpiece of a Harden trade.

Unless the Clippers change course, Harden might be running low on options. Whenever a player “fails or refuses, without proper or reasonable cause or excuse, to render the services” required by his contract or gets suspended for doing so, a team can dock him 1/91.6th of his salary for each game that he misses, according to the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement. The Sixers can also fine him for refusing to attend practice “without proper and reasonable excuse.”

In theory, Harden could decide to sit out the year, forfeit his $35.6 million salary and test free agency next summer. However, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe first noted in mid-July, the CBA says that any player who “withholds playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract” will be prohibited from entering free agency or signing with “any other professional basketball team unless and until the team with which the player last played expressly agrees otherwise.”

While Ben Simmons successfully held out from the Sixers until they traded him in a package for Harden in February 2022, he had multiple years remaining on his contract at the time. Since the Sixers could technically prevent Harden from becoming a free agent next summer, they know he can’t risk holding out for an extended period.

That doesn’t mean Harden will report to the Sixers with no hard feelings. On NBA Today, Wojnarowski said he wants “to make the Sixers so uncomfortable that they just decide that they cannot bring him back to training camp.”

It’s fair to wonder whether the NBA will have to intervene here at some point, just like it did with Damian Lillard’s attempt to force his way to the Miami Heat. The league can’t force the Sixers to trade Harden for a return they deem unsuitable, but it could send a reminder about the clause in the CBA on failure to render services.

Unless either side backs down over the next month-and-a-half, this seems likely to spill over into an ugly battle in training camp. Harden figures to report, if only to avoid being fined and/or suspended, but the Sixers shouldn’t expect to get anywhere close to his best effort. They could let this drag on all season and dare Harden to submarine his leaguewide value ahead of free agency next summer, but they’d be punting a year of Joel Embiid’s prime.

Why did Harden pick up his player option if he had no interest in returning to the Sixers? The Clippers had no realistic means of acquiring him otherwise. Since they’re over both salary-cap aprons, they couldn’t acquire him via a sign-and-trade, and they had no access to the taxpayer mid-level exception.

Had Harden become a free agent, the Clippers could have offered him no more than a two-year, $6.55 million contract. That’s nearly $29 million less than he’s set to earn this coming season alone. Still, the NBA can’t be thrilled about Harden picking up his player option and then threatening the Sixers if they don’t trade him.

It remains unclear which side will blink first here. In all likelihood, the Clippers will stand pat until training camp and see what havoc Harden tries to wreak. If he succeeds in his mission of getting the Sixers to cave, perhaps the Clippers can acquire him for less than Morey’s current asking price.

In the meantime, the Sixers figure to continue trying to smooth things over with Harden. He’s reportedly unhappy with Morey “over the lack of a long-term, maximum-level contract offer,” according to Wojnarowski, but sulking through a contract season following your third trade request in three years isn’t a great way to boost your stock ahead of free agency.

Either way, this standoff is likely to devolve even further before getting resolved. Buckle up.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac or RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.