A contentious offseason between James Harden the Philadelphia 76ers was ratcheted up when the team communicated they expect him in camp and the player responded by calling Daryl Morey "a liar."
The timing of the Sixers making that declaration could have been dictated by the Los Angeles Clippers moving on from trade talks. The Sixers did not see a market materialize for Harden beyond the Clippers.
"One of the things that happened here is I think the Clippers had decided there was no trade," said Brian Windhorst on his podcast. "I think the Clippers were going to move on from it and at least from talking to Philly about it. I think the only option Philly had at the time was the Clippers and so when that never got off the ground, from what I understand. They had multiple conversations... You can see the two rosters. You can see what the trade pieces are. You can understand why they wouldn't [do a trade].
"As long as Philly wasn't interested in taking some assets from the Clippers and then making an offer, probably with Tyrese Maxey for Damian Lillard, I don't see how a Clipper trade makes a ton of sense for them anyway.
"I think what ticked James off was that they announced they wanted to bring him back and he was reacting to that more than anything."
