The saga around the Houston Rockets has been going on for a little while now as it has been clear that their star players have been upset with the direction the franchise is taking.
The team sent one star away, Russell Westbrook, and they are now dealing with the other. As training camp continues on, James Harden has yet to show up at camp and it appears that he would still like to be traded.
The notion all along has been that Harden wants to be sent to the Brooklyn Nets so he can team up with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. However, it appears that he would be open to being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers and play for Daryl Morey who was the general manager with the Rockets for the past 13 seasons.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Harden has added the Sixers to his list of teams:
After it was clear there was no traction in talks with the Nets, Harden expressed to the Rockets that he would be agreeable if a trade with the 76ers materialized, sources said. Harden also indicated that there could be other teams that fit his criteria for a preferred destination, a source said.
The Rockets and the Sixers have had no substantive talks about a potential Harden deal, sources said.
The Sixers have repeatedly said that they do not want to include Ben Simmons in any deal for Harden as the team continues to believe in the Simmons and Joel Embiid pairing. It is easy to see why they would not want to do that as Simmons is only 24 and Embiid is only 26 and there is a lot of potential still to be worked out with them.
While a deal for Harden still seems unlikely at the moment, the Sixers could absolutely wait until later in the season and see if Houston will back off its asking price. For right now, they want a superstar, as they should for a guy of Harden’s stature, but maybe in the future, they will maybe back off and settle for less just to get a disgruntled star off the roster.
This is a situation to keep a close eye on as Morey has proven in the past that he is not afraid to make any bold moves. [lawrence-related id=39983,39969,39966]