Woj: Harden Opting into $35.6M Player Option and Demanding Trade from Philly; Wants to Play for the Clippers

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Proven Loser Seeks Winning Situation

is harden a loser, or did the league make sure harden didnt win to validate his style of play

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26634745/rockets-audited-18-game-7-say-finals-bid-taken

Home teams analysis for a series 5 years ago? We know this dude.

[madmaxmedia]

21/6/11 on 61% ts is not very good?

People confuse "not being good as before" with "not being good anymore"

Harden is still a top 30 at worst and on most days a top 15 player. Good luck replacing that for a team that already couldn't get over the hump lol.

If it wasn’t for Maxxy Philly would have lost in the first round. His quickness is gone, he’s turning 34 in August.

He’s only good for perimeter shooting and being a distributor now cause his days of getting to the rim and playing the passing lanes on defense is over.

Clippers will have no defensive identity if their back court is Wesbrook and Harden next year.

Which is why the idea of adding Harden is intriguing to me, but absolutely not if the trade package is too high. I understand Sixers fans do want genuine pieces back in return, hopefully they will come from some other team.

[rapstarter]

I disagree on Haliburton (be cool to have him for sure), but yeah the term 'treadmill' has totally jumped the shark if it's including teams like the Sixers.

wake me up when they get out of the 2nd round.

Treadmill was created to talk about teams that year after year weren’t good enough to win a PO series if things went well that season, and weren’t bad enough to get a top-5 pick if things went poorly.

You just mean they’re stuck short of winning a title. We all get that.

They haven't ever gotten close enough to winning a title to be called anything other than a treadmill team. That's just the reality,

[NBA4Lyfe]

Maxey doesn’t care. He knows he’s going to get paid…

upcoming season is make or break, we're going to see if he was just living off the gravity of embiid and harden or if he really is that dude

[ryguy613]

People confuse "not being good as before" with "not being good anymore"

Harden is still a top 30 at worst and on most days a top 15 player. Good luck replacing that for a team that already couldn't get over the hump lol.

If it wasn’t for Maxxy Philly would have lost in the first round. His quickness is gone, he’s turning 34 in August.

He’s only good for perimeter shooting and being a distributor now cause his days of getting to the rim and playing the passing lanes on defense is over.

Clippers will have no defensive identity if their back court is Wesbrook and Harden next year.

Which is why the idea of adding Harden is intriguing to me, but absolutely not if the trade package is too high. I understand Sixers fans do want genuine pieces back in return, hopefully they will come from some other team.

so you think by bringing in a 3rd team somehow the clippers can land harden by just giving up old players on expiring contracts that they dont even want on their roster? you gotta give up something you like to get something you think puts you over the top.

[zshawn10]

Read on Twitter

James Harden did what?
In what qualified as a (pre)free-agency stunner, James Harden opted into the final year of his contract in Philadelphia on Thursday with the understanding—or at least the belief—that the 76ers would trade him.

Let’s unpack this …

It’s clear that the market for Harden, across the NBA, wasn’t as robust as he hoped it would be. Harden is coming off an All-Star–caliber season. But he will be 34 this summer and despite putting up strong numbers (21 points, a league-best 10.7 assists), he has shown signs of regression.
Philadelphia was interested in a Harden return but wasn’t interested in anything long term. The 76ers, sources told Sports Illustrated, preferred a two-year deal. Would the Sixers have gotten to three? Who knows, but it’s clear the team wasn’t going to go all-in to bring Harden back.
Neither, it seems, was Houston. For months rumors of a Harden-Houston reunion have bounced around the NBA. As SI reported Wednesday, the Rockets did have multiple, high-level discussions last season about bringing Harden back, with enthusiasm coming from ownership. Over the past few weeks, however, Houston—which has more than $60 million in salary cap space—has shifted its interest elsewhere, with Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks reportedly among the top targets. (More on that below.)
Still—the opt-in is puzzling. Sure, by opting in, Harden expands his potential destinations. The Clippers, who did not have the flexibility to sign Harden outright, have already engaged the Sixers on Harden, sources confirmed to SI. The Knicks will get in the mix. Miami, too. But Harden, who will earn $35.6 million next season, is no longer extension eligible, meaning he will enter free agency next summer weeks before turning 35. The calculus that there will be a better deal for him then than there is now is … interesting.
Harden will have his preferred destinations, but Philadelphia is already casting a wide net. The Sixers “are shopping [Harden] everywhere,” a rival exec told SI, with Philadelphia prioritizing NBA talent in early talks. The Sixers, it seems, want to do everything to compete for a championship while Joel Embiid, the reigning MVP, is in his prime. That could mean a drawn-out process. Or even a situation where Harden is on the roster in October.

https://www.si.com/nba/2023/06/30/top-free-agency-questions-james-harden-damian-lillard-houston

[Mister Ze]

Imagine the Sixers not reaching a deal with any other team and forcing Harden to return to training camp, but he refuses and sits out.

[JimmyPlopper]

Imagine the Sixers not reaching a deal with any other team and forcing Harden to return to training camp, but he refuses and sits out.

I can imagine it very clearly.

[Flash4thewin]

Imagine the Sixers not reaching a deal with any other team and forcing Harden to return to training camp, but he refuses and sits out.

I can imagine it very clearly.

Harden cant be that stupid but watch. Dude will be lucky get the MLE if he tries that stunt.

[CP3nthusiast]

I said to compare their CAREER records. Haliburton is a career loser to date. Sacramento has improved without Haliburton.

Do you really not understand how asset valuation works in the NBA or are you just **** with me?

Do you not understand how building a team with championship asperation works? Harden contributes towards that. Haliburton absolutely doesn't. Sacramento has improved without Haliburton becoming a playoff team.

"without Haliburton becoming a playoff team"

[SelfishPlayer]

wake me up when they get out of the 2nd round.

Treadmill was created to talk about teams that year after year weren’t good enough to win a PO series if things went well that season, and weren’t bad enough to get a top-5 pick if things went poorly.

You just mean they’re stuck short of winning a title. We all get that.

They haven't ever gotten close enough to winning a title to be called anything other than a treadmill team. That's just the reality,

Having a superstar in his prime eliminates all talk of treadmill. Treadmill teams don't have a superstar, nor youth with superstar potential, while maintaining a goal of simply making the playoffs, and not contending. We have seen a team like the Raptors fall off of the treadmill while the Knicks hopped onto it. A team like the Mavs can be made to emulate a treadmill team by idiotic management mistakes like letting Brunson walk away for nothing and immediately turning the Knicks into a treadmill team while the Mavs are now a lottery team, although a lottery team with a proven superstar which gives them hope, unlike treadmill teams who have none...

[jstross]

When do we expect the shoe to drop on a Harden trade or is he not able to find a suitor?

[madmaxmedia]

If it wasn’t for Maxxy Philly would have lost in the first round. His quickness is gone, he’s turning 34 in August.

He’s only good for perimeter shooting and being a distributor now cause his days of getting to the rim and playing the passing lanes on defense is over.

Clippers will have no defensive identity if their back court is Wesbrook and Harden next year.

Which is why the idea of adding Harden is intriguing to me, but absolutely not if the trade package is too high. I understand Sixers fans do want genuine pieces back in return, hopefully they will come from some other team.

so you think by bringing in a 3rd team somehow the clippers can land harden by just giving up old players on expiring contracts that they dont even want on their roster? you gotta give up something you like to get something you think puts you over the top.

That’s the rub, I don’t think he puts the Clippers over the top. I meant that for their sake I hope the Sixers will find a better trade out there from another team, than what i think the Clippers should give up.

[ChaseDown]

Imagine the Sixers not reaching a deal with any other team and forcing Harden to return to training camp, but he refuses and sits out.

So like his last season on the Rockets except he sat out after sabotaging lol. I definitely feel the same situation is brewing

[Sofia]

It’s the new CBA era now, meaning Clippers as a 2nd apron team have a much tougher job of matching salaries to trade. The odds of Harden going to LA have decreased

[Johnny Bball]

If Morey is going to be like that, this could drag on wayyyy more than just the summer.

And Harden will play, and he will get paid, and he will mail it in. Its how he's done it in the past. He could basically start them in a deep hole.

[HotelVitale]

Treadmill was created to talk about teams that year after year weren’t good enough to win a PO series if things went well that season, and weren’t bad enough to get a top-5 pick if things went poorly.

You just mean they’re stuck short of winning a title. We all get that.

They haven't ever gotten close enough to winning a title to be called anything other than a treadmill team. That's just the reality,

Having a superstar in his prime eliminates all talk of treadmill. Treadmill teams don't have a superstar, nor youth with superstar potential, while maintaining a goal of simply making the playoffs, and not contending. We have seen a team like the Raptors fall off of the treadmill while the Knicks hopped onto it. A team like the Mavs can be made to emulate a treadmill team by idiotic management mistakes like letting Brunson walk away for nothing and immediately turning the Knicks into a treadmill team while the Mavs are now a lottery team, although a lottery team with a proven superstar which gives them hope, unlike treadmill teams who have none...

Sort of agree but don't think any of those teams are treadmill teams now. Mavs have a young MVP-level guy so their upside is inherently much higher than a treadmill team--which means that even if they keep being stuck in that 10-15 range for a few years, like you said that'd be because of crappy moves and not because their team is inherently limited. Knicks already won a first rd series and could easily do so again, and they also have other options with various young assets and picks. They're not far off from a treadmill team if things go badly but they're not that atm for sure.

The Raptors are possibly entering that territory--3 years and counting of having basically no chance at winning a PO series, and right now they're clearly too talented to slip down into the basement though. Their hope for avoiding that is Barnes making a big leap, I guess, but they could realistically be heading into a 3-4 year stretch of that treadmill zone.

Also, rapstarter, if you're just trying to lob insults and be like 'ha ha you keep losing in the 2nd rd,' cool, I'm sure there's a 4chan thread that'd love to have your contributions. Yeah the Sixers are 'stuck' and keep getting the same result, but they also made it further than 'treadmill' teams do for the last 5+ years, and they still have options and ways to improve their odds from there since they have Embiid, Maxey, cap space, etc. Sixers fans aren't that optimistic about that but point is the term 'treadmill' has lost its value if you're just describing every team that doesn't win a title.

[Memories]

If Morey is going to be like that, this could drag on wayyyy more than just the summer.

And Harden will play, and he will get paid, and he will mail it in. Its how he's done it in the past. He could basically start them in a deep hole.

Harden gonna come in to Sixers training camp like,

[timO]

Powell+Morris+Frp and call It a day.

[HotelVitale]

Which is why the idea of adding Harden is intriguing to me, but absolutely not if the trade package is too high. I understand Sixers fans do want genuine pieces back in return, hopefully they will come from some other team.

so you think by bringing in a 3rd team somehow the clippers can land harden by just giving up old players on expiring contracts that they dont even want on their roster? you gotta give up something you like to get something you think puts you over the top.

That’s the rub, I don’t think he puts the Clippers over the top. I meant that for their sake I hope the Sixers will find a better trade out there from another team, than what i think the Clippers should give up.

Hmm, does Norman Powell and some whatever picks put you over the top? Not trying to talk you into the trade, just not sure why you wouldn't take the better chance at a champsionship over the lesser one (and not even bring into the equation cirteria like 'will this make us the clear favorite?').