The Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets have been at the forefront of every trade rumor recently as they move into trade deadline week in the NBA. The focus is obviously on Nets star James Harden as there is plenty of uncertainty about what The Beard is going to do in the offseason.
The Nets are mired in a serious slump as they have lost eight games in a row, they have slid into the play-in tournament, and with plenty of questions about Harden’s future as well as the injury to Kevin Durant, and the vaccination status of Kyrie Irving, the Nets may very well consider moving Harden before the deadline.
However, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, the Nets told the Sixers that Harden is unavailable in trades at the moment.
Per their reporting, Nets GM Sean Marks and Sixers president Daryl Morey had a conversation in January where Morey asked for Harden and Marks simply said “no”. Those conversations have not moved past that:
That exchange four weeks ago represents the single, direct communication between Morey and Marks this season, sources told ESPN. However brief the conversation, messages were delivered in each direction: The Sixers planned a pursuit of Harden, and the Nets had no intention of surrender.
With three days to go until the trade deadline, this is where the dialogue has remained. Yes, Morey could still pick up the phone and call Marks this week. The Sixers’ ownership group have a strong relationship with Nets owner Joe Tsai, so communication can happen on that level, too.
This is a far cry from the report by The Athletic recently where the report was that the Sixers and the Nets will begin engaging on a Harden deal. This seems like more posturing from Brooklyn through ESPN to try and get more from the Sixers, but the biggest takeaway from this is Wojnarowski and Shelburne also added that Harden’s relationship with Sixers co-managing partner Michael Rubin and Morey will play a role.
They added:
Because even as Harden tells the Nets that he wants to stay long term, two people with significant history and relationships with him — Sixers minority owner Michael Rubin and Morey — believe Harden is interested in playing in Philadelphia, sources said.
There will be plenty of reports and flip-flopping over the next couple of days so everyone should buckle their seatbelts as they will be a wild couple of days leading into Thursday’s deadline.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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