The Philadelphia 76ers have more important matters to attend to; they have a championship in mind. They have a terrific chance of finally breaking through and getting to the finals considering the Milwaukee Bucks are out of the picture and the Boston Celtics are struggling to close out their first-round series.
Beyond that, the Sixers have to look ahead to the offseason and the looming James Harden situation. The Beard is likely to opt out of his deal and test free agency. The Sixers will try to re-sign him to a long-term deal to keep him and Joel Embiid together, but this league can be tricky to predict.
Bleacher Report ranked the top free agents for 2023, and Harden is atop the list:
Any team pursuing James Harden this summer (and it looks like at least the Houston Rockets could be in that hunt) won’t be looking for the MVP version of him, but he remains perhaps the best offensive weapon available.
This season, Harden averaged 21.0 points and a league-leading 10.7 assists while shooting 38.5 percent from deep — his best three-point percentage since 2011-12. The Philadelphia 76ers scored 5.3 more points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor.
Even in his mid-30s — he’ll turn 34 in August — no one can match Harden’s combination of strength, vision and feel in the pick-and-roll. Playing as a No. 2 option has seriously limited the number of desperation shots he takes, which was a big part of his improved scoring efficiency this season.
It will be interesting to see how free agency shakes out for Harden and the Sixers.
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