The Philadelphia 76ers are a team that has a lot of interest in acquiring Brooklyn Nets star James Harden one way or another. They can either acquire the potential unrestricted free agent via sign-and-trade or they can acquire him if he does opt in to his deal with the Nets.
Either way, there has been a lot of talk about Harden potentially joining the Sixers. ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins reported that he wants to join Joel Embiid in Philadelphia and reunite with president Daryl Morey who helped him succeed with the Houston Rockets.
With all of this smoke, comes fire, and it appears that teams are catching on. If Harden does, in fact, join the Sixers, rival teams want the league to investigate possible collusion between Harden and Philadelphia.
Per Chris Haynes on the “Posted Up” podcast:
I’ve talken to a rival owner. Talking to rival front office executives who believe that there can be some talk going on now betwee both sides. This is what I was told: some front office executives are prepared to, when the time comes, if a deal does look like it’s about to transpire where there could be some potential sign-and-trade in the offseason, they’re prepared to get the league involved on a potential collusion case dating back to what they believe could be going on right now as to why we’re probably hearing a lot of Philadelphia-James Harden talk. That’s something to keep an eye on. If it does get to the point where James Harden will be headed to Philly, I was told there will be complaints issued to the league on trying to investigate to see if there was any collusion.
Haynes then added that Harden’s friendship with co-managing partner Michael Rubin will play a factor as well:
There’s another player we’re going to add to this dynamic: Michael Rubin. For those who don’t know, the Sixers co-owner is very, very, very good friends with James Harden and I’ve been talking to a rival owner, talking to rival front office executives, who believe that there can be some talk going on now between both sides.
One thing to point out: other teams would probably not be pushing for this now if there was not a serious chance of Harden going to Philadelphia in the offseason. Philadelphia has a lot to offer The Beard and it will be interesting to see what happens in the summer.
The Sixers will certainly be in the running for Harden no matter what happens in the next couple of months leading into the offseason, but the talk of collusion could cause an issue.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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