James Harden has likely played his final game with the Sixers after picking up his player option for next season to facilitate a trade out of Philadelphia. However, while there were immediately connections to the Clippers (considered the favorites to land Harden, in part because he prefers L.A.), Knicks, and Heat, the Sixers aren’t going to rush to deal their star guard.
Jake Fischer of Yahoo provided a lengthy report on Friday detailing all the news and notes he’s hearing around the league regarding Harden and more before the 6 p.m. ET start of the new league year, and he noted that Philadelphia is going to be patient and canvas the league, with Fischer noting the Chicago Bulls as a team that could get in the mix.
Philadelphia does not have to move Harden to his preferred destination with the Clippers. President Daryl Morey, league sources told Yahoo Sports, has already been active in exploring the trade market for Harden outside of just dealing with Los Angeles and the team’s obvious interest in landing the point guard. At this early point, the Sixers are at least projecting a patience to this trade process, similar to how Philadelphia signaled it would take its time moving Ben Simmons before ultimately flipping him to Brooklyn for Harden at the 2022 trade deadline. Chicago would be one potential trade partner to keep in mind, as the Bulls have made Zach LaVine available in conversations this offseason, sources said, and could also send an All-Star such as DeMar DeRozan back to Philadelphia. But there will be many avenues the Sixers explore before finalizing a Harden trade.
As Fischer goes on to note, it’s not clear if Philly can get enough from another team for Harden on an expiring if his desire is to be in Los Angeles. That said, they will certainly try to and will be doing their best to extract the most they can from the Clippers by shopping Harden around the league to ensure L.A. at least comes with a bit more than just Norman Powell and Marcus Morris.
Linking Harden to the Bulls is particularly interesting, because their greatest need is at the point guard spot with Lonzo Ball expected to miss another season. While it’d likely have to be a much larger deal to get LaVine, that would allow the Sixers to turn Harden into a different second-star with Joel Embiid — whether that’s the right star is a different question. They also could look to add DeRozan, who may be more easily attainable and would, again, maybe help save face a bit better than a package built around Powell from L.A.
In any case, it seems as though we won’t be getting a resolution on the Harden front for some time. Morey, as we’ve seen previously, is willing to let things get uncomfortable to try and get the most out of a deal — albeit that is provided Embiid is on board with that plan.