by AAA Sports
Thursday, Aug 24, 2023Just what the (insert your favorite word here) is going on with James Harden, and for that matter Harden’s agent, his current team (Philadelphia), his current general manager, and his future team (unknown)? The NBA would love to know, and it’s looking into the whole mess.
This much is known. Harden, as his wont, has asked to be traded to a team he can bamboozle into giving him one last big contract. In fact, he demanded the same. And 76ers GM Daryl Morey might have agreed to trade Harden. Or Morey might have said something like “We’ll TRY to trade you” or “Our price will be high.”
Harden might have heard “Whatever you want, James. You’ll be on the team or your choice by Independence Day.”
It all brings to mind Strother Martin’s character talking to Paul Newman’s in Cool Hand Luke: “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
At any rate, the 33-year-old Harden has taken to calling Morey a liar, and Morey has responded by telling Harden to sneaker up because he’ll be expected in camp lest he be ready to start forfeiting chunks of that $35.6-million contract that Harden opted into last June.
Watching all of this with interest was one Kevin McHale, who got the full Harden treatment eight years ago when both were with the Rockets (McHale the HC at the time). McHale sat Harden during Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, and Houston won that series before getting knocked out by Golden State.
“The next year he came to camp, he was fat and didn’t feel like playing, and I got fired [11] games into the season,” McHale was quoted as saying. “He had a plan.”
Now Morey, who has now traded twice for Harden, is getting the Full Beard Treatment. Assuming that Morey’s spine remains stiff and he keeps Harden unless some other team loses its mind and offers a swap that includes an All-Star and a few No. 1s, Harden will be in camp ready and eager to destroy any fan who has a futures ticket predicting that the Sixers will have a big season.
For the record. Philly is +1600 to win the NBA title, and Harden is +11000 to win the MVP trophy. If you think that the Sixers can somehow work their way through this mess and get to 50 wins, you can make money with an over wager at 49.5.
Two other big-timers are looking at the situation with both interest and chagrin.
If there’s one thing the NBA likes, it’s money, and Morey cost the league a bundle last year when he Tweeted his support of Hong Kong and the Chinese went (figuratively) ballistic. Now Harden is throwing spitballs at Morey, and Silver has to sigh deeply and get involved when he hasn’t yet put out the Lillard/Miami conspiracy fire.
Then there’s Joel Embiid, and you have to wonder what the reigning league MVP is thinking. Embiid needs Harden or someone whose game is similarly impactful if the 76ers are going to climb past the Miamis, Bostons, and Milwaukees which stand in their way in the East. The thinking in the association is that while Embiid was good with the initial Process, he would rather stick needles in his eyes rather than go through a Process 2.0 and another rebuild.
For his part, Harden says he has checked his appointments calendar, and nothing in it says he is going to be at the 76ers training camp come early October. So there’s that, plus this Harden musing: “Every time I come here, the love is just like . . . it’s crazy. So I feel like they deserve to actually see me come play here. Love is always crazy here.”
Any team interested in trading for Harden should be aware that he was talking about China.
This much is known. Harden, as his wont, has asked to be traded to a team he can bamboozle into giving him one last big contract. In fact, he demanded the same. And 76ers GM Daryl Morey might have agreed to trade Harden. Or Morey might have said something like “We’ll TRY to trade you” or “Our price will be high.”
Harden might have heard “Whatever you want, James. You’ll be on the team or your choice by Independence Day.”
It all brings to mind Strother Martin’s character talking to Paul Newman’s in Cool Hand Luke: “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
At any rate, the 33-year-old Harden has taken to calling Morey a liar, and Morey has responded by telling Harden to sneaker up because he’ll be expected in camp lest he be ready to start forfeiting chunks of that $35.6-million contract that Harden opted into last June.
Watching all of this with interest was one Kevin McHale, who got the full Harden treatment eight years ago when both were with the Rockets (McHale the HC at the time). McHale sat Harden during Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, and Houston won that series before getting knocked out by Golden State.
“The next year he came to camp, he was fat and didn’t feel like playing, and I got fired [11] games into the season,” McHale was quoted as saying. “He had a plan.”
Now Morey, who has now traded twice for Harden, is getting the Full Beard Treatment. Assuming that Morey’s spine remains stiff and he keeps Harden unless some other team loses its mind and offers a swap that includes an All-Star and a few No. 1s, Harden will be in camp ready and eager to destroy any fan who has a futures ticket predicting that the Sixers will have a big season.
For the record. Philly is +1600 to win the NBA title, and Harden is +11000 to win the MVP trophy. If you think that the Sixers can somehow work their way through this mess and get to 50 wins, you can make money with an over wager at 49.5.
Two other big-timers are looking at the situation with both interest and chagrin.
If there’s one thing the NBA likes, it’s money, and Morey cost the league a bundle last year when he Tweeted his support of Hong Kong and the Chinese went (figuratively) ballistic. Now Harden is throwing spitballs at Morey, and Silver has to sigh deeply and get involved when he hasn’t yet put out the Lillard/Miami conspiracy fire.
Then there’s Joel Embiid, and you have to wonder what the reigning league MVP is thinking. Embiid needs Harden or someone whose game is similarly impactful if the 76ers are going to climb past the Miamis, Bostons, and Milwaukees which stand in their way in the East. The thinking in the association is that while Embiid was good with the initial Process, he would rather stick needles in his eyes rather than go through a Process 2.0 and another rebuild.
For his part, Harden says he has checked his appointments calendar, and nothing in it says he is going to be at the 76ers training camp come early October. So there’s that, plus this Harden musing: “Every time I come here, the love is just like . . . it’s crazy. So I feel like they deserve to actually see me come play here. Love is always crazy here.”
Any team interested in trading for Harden should be aware that he was talking about China.
