James Harden Wants To Be Traded To Philadelphiia; Won’t Formally Demand Trade Due To Public Backlash

[SK21209]

Doesn't the "you can't waste a year of his prime" argument being applied to Embiid not also apply to KD? He's looked great but the guy will be 34 when next season starts. I know he wants Harden to stay and a locked-in Harden still gives them the best chance to win, but Harden looks like he may just be checked out of the situation and Kyrie is playing at most half of their games if he stays completely healthy. KD's recovery from the Achilles tear has been miraculous but I'm not sure how much longer you can just pencil in a 7 foot guy who moves like that as a Top 3 player in the league. It all depends on what you think you're going to get from Harden the rest of the season.

[Pointgod]

Personally if I was Morey I wouldn't do a deal with BKN....because that could blow up in his face.

People keep talking/treating Harden like he's still the guy from HOU but he's older, slower and becoming more injury prone due to age, likely all that heavy (no pun intended) usage and of course not being in peak physical shape. Not to mention what will his fit with Joel be like?! Personally I like Dame and Beal's fit to play off the ball and roam around the perimeter more as it opens up the floor for Embiid and forces teams to pick their poison. Harden does little to nothing when he isn't on ball, so their offence will likely be a matter of just taking turns other than the occasional drive and lob/drop off to Embiid from Harden. Sure that's an improvement from Ben passing on open dunks but nonetheless I don't think they have some great complimentary fit. Plus no one seems to talk about how Harden chokes in big pressure situations, you think he's going to be able to handle the PHI crowd?! I don't. Then you think of the flipside of the equation and adding Ben to BKN, IF (I know it's a big one) Kyrie eventually complies for his extension or the mandate drops, PHI just f'd themselves...think about it...

Ben would be in THE perfect situation for himself as he'd essentially become a hyper version of Draymond in BKN, they wouldn't need his scoring at all, just to defend and find open shooters which their would be a plethora of if the deal is in fact Ben/Seth. Think about Ben being surrounded by KD, Kyrie, Seth, Patty and Harris -- teams will get their heads bombed on with 3s all day & night just like GSW except they have 2 killers/closers in KD & Kyrie and if you're Morey, you want Harden to rise to the occasion to face off against a pissed off KD in a series while Simmons is locking him down lmao that would end hilariously bad for the Sixers.

So no if I'm Morey, the intelligent thing would be to hold off to the off season and see if one of POR (*ahem*) or OKC (*ahem*) would be interested in helping execute a S&T for Harden while they get Simmons. Send him out West and don't create not only a threat but if fully healthy an even better team than what you made.

Way too many people are prisoners of the moment. Harden didn’t all of a sudden forget how to play over a year.

The Sixers would be getting Harden for a laughable lowball offer. They’re giving up a guy who’s not even playing, keeping Maxey and Thybulle and their core team in the process. They would absolutely destroy the Nets in the proposed trade it’s not even close.

I don’t buy that Harden all of a sudden is garbage and over the hill. He was already playing very well this year and he’ll be even better playing off the attention Embiid draws, then we’ll all be criticizing the Nets and praising Morey for the absolute coup.

[jpengland]

Nets are already torpedoed

You think were winning **** this year with part time Kyrie and mentally ill Ben Simmons?

I'd rather take my chances that Harden comes back to his senses by the playoffs.

Doesn't matter what *you* want. The Nets aren't dumb enough to cut their nose off to spite their face.

Harden wants out. It's over.

We can get the same thing youre offering now in the off season.

Unless Harden walks to any other team, cap space or not.

Or Morey decides to do you dirty and shift Simmons and whoever else to other teams and grab Harden for nothing...

[Hello Brooklyn]

They have no incentive to do it this year.

They actually have. Until yesterday no possible contender had cap space to outright sign Harden which gave the Nets leverage. Portland cleared 60$ millions yesterday so they can sign Harden and offer a Harden/Dame pairing if necessary.

The Sixers right now have the power because they're not even forced to clear their cap for the Nets to lose Harden for nothing in the next off season.

Harden is not going to Portland. You are insane if you believe that

They are not at all a contender with Harden.

And if Harden is willing to go somewhere else than Philly then we can open up sign and trade offers to the whole league.

Its almost certain he gets swapped for Simmons this off season. If not done now.

[zshawn10]

[Windhorst] The sides are definitely communicating and definitely making progress. 2 things they have to overcome to get this done, from the BKN side... can they get Curry...BKN really like him. For PHI, you're not just trading for Harden, you're trading for Harden who wants at 33 a 220M extension. (streamable.com)

https://streamable.com/tauiu3

[Hello Brooklyn]

There's no guarantee Ben Simmons will still be available as a return to the Nets in the summer. If Morey has set the stage to be able to flip Harris & picks for cap space at that point what incentive is there to trade Ben Simmons for Harden? He can trade Ben SImmons to another team, create cap room, maybe get a player and picks back and then sign Harden. Then at that time it will be up to the Nets whether they want to do a 'save a little face' type of S&T to get back a pick or something and Harden is 'happier' just from getting a higher starting salary or bigger increases from bird rights.

So Morey wouldn’t do the trade he was going to do in the at the deadline in the offseason for reasons? Think about what you’re say. There are only 3 teams with capspace in the offseason. OKC, Detroit and San Antonio. Good luck convincing those teams that Ben will be happy there long term. Of course Morey wants to go with the low ball offer right now because he’s also not wasting a MVP season from Embiid. But it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t make the same low ball offer to the Nets in the offseason and instead go through some convulted process of clearing capspace to two of the three teams with space this summer.

POR now also has $60M cap space. And they really want Ben Simmons.

We all know Harden is hell bent on Philly.

He won't go to Portland. Its an empty threat.

Dame is not Embiid. They wouldn't be a serious contender.

[Pointgod]

There's no guarantee Ben Simmons will still be available as a return to the Nets in the summer. If Morey has set the stage to be able to flip Harris & picks for cap space at that point what incentive is there to trade Ben Simmons for Harden? He can trade Ben SImmons to another team, create cap room, maybe get a player and picks back and then sign Harden. Then at that time it will be up to the Nets whether they want to do a 'save a little face' type of S&T to get back a pick or something and Harden is 'happier' just from getting a higher starting salary or bigger increases from bird rights.

So Morey wouldn’t do the trade he was going to do in the at the deadline in the offseason for reasons? Think about what you’re say. There are only 3 teams with capspace in the offseason. OKC, Detroit and San Antonio. Good luck convincing those teams that Ben will be happy there long term. Of course Morey wants to go with the low ball offer right now because he’s also not wasting a MVP season from Embiid. But it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t make the same low ball offer to the Nets in the offseason and instead go through some convulted process of clearing capspace to two of the three teams with space this summer.

OKC has cap space in the offseason? They have SGA extension and Kemba's dead cap. Detroit has only 20 million(?)

So we’re down to two teams with capspace to absorb Simmons and/or Harris…..

[Swish1906]

[streamable][/streamable]

Looks like Seans Marks agrees with me. Seems like he understands leverage.

In the meantime Sixers can work on giving up picks to dump Harris and torpedo their season. I don't think its smart strategy.

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=Uyct3ex3Z4HUtSaIC4S1Og

Nets arent getting Maxey and Thybulle. Seth curry is the one they are getting.

[Mamba81p]

They have no incentive to do it this year.

They actually have. Until yesterday no possible contender had cap space to outright sign Harden which gave the Nets leverage. Portland cleared 60$ millions yesterday so they can sign Harden and offer a Harden/Dame pairing if necessary.

The Sixers right now have the power because they're not even forced to clear their cap for the Nets to lose Harden for nothing in the next off season.

Orlando and SA could clear enough cap space to sign Harden if they really want to. I don't think the Portland situation is changing anything. The big question is will Harden really go there? And if he says he does, at least he goes West or to a non-contender like Orlando. Isn't that better than just sending him to Philly for Simmons?

[DusterBuster]

They have no incentive to do it this year.

They actually have. Until yesterday no possible contender had cap space to outright sign Harden which gave the Nets leverage. Portland cleared 60$ millions yesterday so they can sign Harden and offer a Harden/Dame pairing if necessary.

The Sixers right now have the power because they're not even forced to clear their cap for the Nets to lose Harden for nothing in the next off season.

Harden is not going to Portland. You are insane if you believe that

Once again for the back row... most strip clubs per capita!

[bebopdeluxe]

They lose him for free because the Sixers use those teams w/cap to clear Simmons and Harris. Then sign Harden outright.

Moving $70 mil in salary without taking any salary back is not as easy you may think. Not impossible, but it's not a trivial task.

This.
In this summer, with so few teams with cap space, in a bad economy for teams and with an enormous check for non-tax payers, it's almost impossible. I still have to see a realistic scenario where they dump that salary in the summer. Some people need to read the CBA before giving opinions.
Before the deadline they can do it, but they seem reluctant to do that, maybe because nobody wants him?

If the Nets front office is any good, they would have some intel on whether Morey and Presti have talked about OKC taking Harris' contract. There is obvious precedent there, as it was Presti who ate Horford's brutal contract. Harris is nowhere near as bad, Presti has to get to the salary cap floor anyway. and a year of Harris playing with SGA, Giddey and Dort would help those three grow their game. Presti DGAF about where his team finishes next year, with all the draft capital they have from other teams, and he will probably have no problem flipping Harris again for the last year of his deal.

This is actually fairly straight forward.

Morey obviously wants Harden. Embiid, I am sure, has been brought into the loop and is on board with it as well. Trading Harris and getting nothing back would obviously hurt this season; they would probably look to sign somebody like Thad Young if he is bought out for the balance of the season. But if you can get Harden without giving up any assets, that is an awesome long-term play.

Your move, Sean.

[ATLTimekeeper]

They have no incentive to do it this year.

They actually have. Until yesterday no possible contender had cap space to outright sign Harden which gave the Nets leverage. Portland cleared 60$ millions yesterday so they can sign Harden and offer a Harden/Dame pairing if necessary.

The Sixers right now have the power because they're not even forced to clear their cap for the Nets to lose Harden for nothing in the next off season.

Portland isn't a contender, though. Not real leverage. The real leverage is Philly clearing space in the summer, but that requires a lot of giveaways. So, Brooklyn is correct to ask for the moon right now, because a Simmons/Harden deal in the summer is on the table anyway. May as well see if Philly is willing to risk Embiid tearing his knee again due to lack of help.

[chrisab123]

So Morey wouldn’t do the trade he was going to do in the at the deadline in the offseason for reasons? Think about what you’re say. There are only 3 teams with capspace in the offseason. OKC, Detroit and San Antonio. Good luck convincing those teams that Ben will be happy there long term. Of course Morey wants to go with the low ball offer right now because he’s also not wasting a MVP season from Embiid. But it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t make the same low ball offer to the Nets in the offseason and instead go through some convulted process of clearing capspace to two of the three teams with space this summer.

POR now also has $60M cap space. And they really want Ben Simmons.

We all know Harden is hell bent on Philly.

He won't go to Portland. Its an empty threat.

Dame is not Embiid. They wouldn't be a serious contender.

Harden won't stay in Philly past this year once he sees the options for Strip Clubs in the area.

[Sixersftw]

They actually have. Until yesterday no possible contender had cap space to outright sign Harden which gave the Nets leverage. Portland cleared 60$ millions yesterday so they can sign Harden and offer a Harden/Dame pairing if necessary.

The Sixers right now have the power because they're not even forced to clear their cap for the Nets to lose Harden for nothing in the next off season.

Harden is not going to Portland. You are insane if you believe that

Once again for the back row... most strip clubs per capita!

They're trash but he's right. If it's a pure numbers game, Portland wins.

[Hello Brooklyn]

They have no incentive to do it this year.

They actually have. Until yesterday no possible contender had cap space to outright sign Harden which gave the Nets leverage. Portland cleared 60$ millions yesterday so they can sign Harden and offer a Harden/Dame pairing if necessary.

The Sixers right now have the power because they're not even forced to clear their cap for the Nets to lose Harden for nothing in the next off season.

Orlando and SA could clear enough cap space to sign Harden if they really want to. I don't think the Portland situation is changing anything. The big question is will Harden really go there? And if he says he does, at least he goes West or to a non-contender like Orlando. Isn't that better than just sending him to Philly for Simmons?

Harden is only going to Philly to be with his man crush Morey.

And everyone knows it.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

"They should have taken Brogdon, they'll never do any better, Morey is an idiot!!" - RealGM users since the summer.


He really has the Nets right where he wants them, they can create space to sign Harden in the summer, or the Nets can do it right now and at least get something for him. Moral of the story, don't listen to Real GMs.

[DusterBuster]

Harden is not going to Portland. You are insane if you believe that

Once again for the back row... most strip clubs per capita!

They're trash but he's right. If it's a pure numbers game, Portland wins.

This is facts, they are trash, but there's a lot.

[Murray_17]

Harden is not going to Portland. You are insane if you believe that

They are not at all a contender with Harden.

And if Harden is willing to go somewhere else than Philly then we can open up sign and trade offers to the whole league.

Its almost certain he gets swapped for Simmons this off season. If not done now.

I don't believe it, but it's a good option if he really wants out of the Nets

Portland will have 60 millions in cap space and 20 millions from a trade exception, if the offer is good they could certainly create something.

The other stuff you're saying is kind of stupid, trade and signs are not out of the cap. A contender would need to create almost 50 millions in cap to sign Harden while sending someone to the Nets.

What are your ideas for that Trade and sign?

If it's almost certain he gets swapped with Simmons in the summer, isn't better for the Nets to get more compensation in the process?

[Mamba81p]

So Morey wouldn’t do the trade he was going to do in the at the deadline in the offseason for reasons? Think about what you’re say. There are only 3 teams with capspace in the offseason. OKC, Detroit and San Antonio. Good luck convincing those teams that Ben will be happy there long term. Of course Morey wants to go with the low ball offer right now because he’s also not wasting a MVP season from Embiid. But it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t make the same low ball offer to the Nets in the offseason and instead go through some convulted process of clearing capspace to two of the three teams with space this summer.

OKC has cap space in the offseason? They have SGA extension and Kemba's dead cap. Detroit has only 20 million(?)

So we’re down to two teams with capspace to absorb Simmons and/or Harris…..

3 if Portland really wants Simmons. They have to renounce a lot of players to get that reported cap space. They will probably do it for Simmons but for sure not for Harris

[Pointgod]

There's no guarantee Ben Simmons will still be available as a return to the Nets in the summer. If Morey has set the stage to be able to flip Harris & picks for cap space at that point what incentive is there to trade Ben Simmons for Harden? He can trade Ben SImmons to another team, create cap room, maybe get a player and picks back and then sign Harden. Then at that time it will be up to the Nets whether they want to do a 'save a little face' type of S&T to get back a pick or something and Harden is 'happier' just from getting a higher starting salary or bigger increases from bird rights.

So Morey wouldn’t do the trade he was going to do in the at the deadline in the offseason for reasons? Think about what you’re say. There are only 3 teams with capspace in the offseason. OKC, Detroit and San Antonio. Good luck convincing those teams that Ben will be happy there long term. Of course Morey wants to go with the low ball offer right now because he’s also not wasting a MVP season from Embiid. But it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t make the same low ball offer to the Nets in the offseason and instead go through some convulted process of clearing capspace to two of the three teams with space this summer.

POR now also has $60M cap space. And they really want Ben Simmons.

Or Portland could also go after Beal in the offseason as well. It looks like we’re down to 2 teams with cap space to absorb Simmons and Harris outright. You’re basically arguing that other teams shouldn’t act in their best interests so they can help the Sixers land Harden? Both Portland and San Antonio might prioritize using their capspace in other ways other than helping out the Sixers. Looks it’s not impossible, but it’s just dumb if you can trade Simmons for Harden straight up