On June 29th, James Harden opted into his player option and asked the Philadelphia 76ers for a trade, he was upset the Sixers were not giving him a big new contract and wanted to be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. A month later, and Harden remains a Sixer with seemingly little movement on a deal to Los Angeles taking place. I wanted to see what could be holding up a deal and if a deal will eventually get done.
Let’s start with the Sixers side of things. Obviously keeping Harden is the best move to go forward for the Sixers in 2023-24. He was their second best player last season and he has great chemistry with Joel Embiid in the pick and roll and trading him for role players is a seemingly bad idea, especially with the Sixers reportedly pursuing cap space next summer. One thing that could get the 76ers to bite is an offer of Terrence Mann, Marcus Morris Sr., Nic Batum, BJ Boston, and a 2028 first round pick for Harden and Danuel House. There are positives to the deal for the Sixers. Let’s start with the fact that Terrence Mann is good, he can create for himself and others and he is a really good defensive player. I am a BJ Boston, or Brandon Boston Jr., fan as well. He has the ability to become a good 3-and-D wing in the NBA and I think that would be a good add for a Sixers team that needs wings like Boston. Marcus Morris was bad last season, like really awful, so he would likely be a salary filler and the only reason Morris is in the deal and not Norman Powell is because he is on an expiring contract and Philly wants cap space. The last player in the deal is Nic Batum and though he is on the down slide of his career, I think he would be able to help the Sixers in a positive way. This trade would give the Sixers a roster building issue though as Joel Embiid, Paul Reed, Montrezl Harrell, Mo Bamba, Filip Petrusev, Morris, Batum, P.J. Tucker, and Tobais Harris are all best served either playing the 4 or the 5. That is too many players dedicated to those positions. Now, they already have too many centers, matching the Paul Reed offer sheet is questionable with the amount of centers they already have on the roster, but adding Batum and Morris would give them too many 4’s as well. With all that said, if the Clippers put an unprotected pick on the table in 2028, 2029, or 2030, I think a deal would and should get done. That asset is way too valuable for the Sixers to pass up on.
On the Clippers side, besides Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, there is not a player on the roster I wouldn’t put in a deal for Harden. A lot of people might argue that the Clippers should keep Mann out of any deal but while I think Terrence Mann is good and I too would like to keep him out of a potential trade, if the difference between getting a trade done or not is Terrence Mann, I would put him in the trade. BJ Boston is in the same situation. Boston is a good player who I like and I would not want to trade him but I would put him in a trade to get it done. The one thing I would be hesitant to put in any deal is an unprotected pick in any of the 3 years I mentioned (2028, 2029, or 2030). I am not sure I could justify trading an unprotected pick that far in the future to put this James Harden on this Clipper team and create a big 3 with Harden, this Paul George, and this Kawhi Leonard. If we were in 2019, I would be all-in but it is 2023 going on 2024… and that is not something I would feel all that comfortable doing if I was Steve Balmer and Lawrence Frank. The other side of the coin is, they can’t run the team they have back and expect to compete for anything in the West, much less a championship. The Nuggets, Suns, Lakers, Warriors, Kings, and likely more have passed the Clippers by in the West and they simply are not good enough as constructed so knowing you are not good enough and knowing you still owe more picks to the Thunder, there are 2 questions the Clippers need to answer. Are we good enough to win the West with Harden and does it matter? You are not good enough right now and you have already gone all in to pair Kawhi and PG so is it worth it to make the deal to just even give yourself a chance. That is what the Clippers have to ask themselves, what is the bigger risk, to make this deal or to stand pat? I think that answer is to stand pat.
There are risks for both sides when it comes to making and not making this trade. For the Sixers the only thing that matters is making sure the MVP of the league, Joel Embiid, is happy and how much would making this Harden trade upset him because the idea of him asking out is not as far-fetched as it seemed a year ago. For the Clippers they needed to try and extend their title window with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and this trade may be the only way to do it. There are a lot of factors when breaking this trade down and honestly, I have no idea if it gets done… no matter how uncomfortable James Harden is willing to get.
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