Daryl Morey on James Harden trade request: 76ers need right return or ‘we’re just not going to do it’

76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey discussed James Harden’s trade request at length during a local radio appearance Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Morey confirmed to Philadelphia’s 97.5 FM that Harden is seeking a trade, as The Athletic first reported last month.
• While he is trying to honor Harden’s trade request, Morey added: “If we don’t get either a very good player or something that we can turn into a very good player then we’re just not going to do it.”
• In discussing why Harden wants out, Morey said: “He’s wishing for a different situation contractually… If we can do something that is win-win, helps the Sixers, then we will look at it. If we can’t, then we won’t.”

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

What is the likelihood of a deal getting done?

Well, Morey just made it clear, on the record, that he will not be pushed into a corner to get something done if he doesn’t like the offer. It’s interesting to use the Ben Simmons trade situation from two years ago as a comp, when Morey waited a long time to deal him for Harden, but what might be most instructive from that, even as Morey said in this same interview that he doesn’t see them as analogs, is that Morey said there was no other trade to make before the Harden deal came around.

This seems like a similar situation, where the 76ers don’t do anything until something crosses the threshold of what they want. Morey not only wants a player back who can help the 2023-24 team (or draft assets he can use to trade for one) but he’s also seemingly trying to keep his cap sheet clean for future years. That is a lot to navigate all at once and probably limits what kind of contracts he’s willing to take back. The universe of acceptable returns seems to be getting smaller. Oh, and, as our Sam Amick reported, Harden wants to go to the LA Clippers.

So it seems like we’re in for a long wait on when this deal might get done, and there just hasn’t been the kind of messaging to indicate that something will definitely get done in the end, anyway. — Vorkunov

What else Morey said

“James is a very good player. Right now, unfortunately, he does prefer to be somewhere else,” Morey said. ” I do have a long relationship with him. I’m attempting to honor that. But the reality is that if we do look at a trade it’s going to be for one of two things. It’s either going to be for a player who continues to help us be right there like we were last year, up 3-2 on one of the best teams in the East, the Celtics. Obviously, we didn’t get it done but James was a big part of why we got it to 3-2. Or we’re going to do it for something where we get enough draft picks and things like that in a deal such that we can then turn those into a player who can be a running mate with Joel, as well.

“If we don’t get either a very good player or something that we can turn into a very good player then we’re just not going to do it. If James were to turn his mind around we would all be thrilled… But at this moment he does prefer to be traded and we’re attempting to honor that.”

Morey also addressed Embiid’s cryptic comments made last Thursday at the UNINTERRUPTED Sports Film Festival which drew headlines after making the rounds on social media Monday.

“He had some fun with that yesterday,” Morey said. “He made those comments a bunch of days ago at sort of a semi-private event. They just got published. I spoke to him at length yesterday. He spoke to Coach Nurse yesterday … Coach Nurse is planning to do some very innovative things at training camp that Joel is excited about. He and I spoke.

“Look part of it, at the end of the day he’s talking about the business of the NBA. He wants to win here; he wants to win it for Philly. That’s the only place he wants to win. He absolutely was sort of referencing the fact that it’s not totally in his control where he is at all times.”

Backstory

League sources told The Athletic last month that Harden would opt into his $35.6 million deal for next season in order for the 10-time NBA All-Star and the 76ers to work together on a trade out of Philadelphia.

Harden, 33, averaged 21 points and 10.7 assists per game last season. He was traded from Brooklyn to Philadelphia in 2022 (along with Paul Millsap) for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks. Harden signed a two-year, $68,640,000 deal with the 76ers ahead of last season after accepting a pay cut of about $15 million in free agency.

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(Photo: Bill Streicher / USA Today)