Sam Amick sources: Rockets decided not to pursue James Harden in FA

That is all well and good, but what if FVV goes back to Toronto?

Where are you spending all this cap space?

 

Clearly Ime didn’t want him. Shows good judgement. Off to a great start

 

James Harden’s days in Philadelphia are unofficially over, with the Sixers star deciding on Thursday to opt into the $35.6 million option on his contract for next season en route to asking for a trade, as The Athletic’s Shams Charania first reported.

According to sources directly involved in the situation on both sides, the Los Angeles native wants to play for the Clippers and the Sixers are already in the process of discussing his desired move. Harden is, according to sources close to him, extremely upset at the way in which the Sixers handled his possible free agency and has made his dissatisfaction clear to the organization.

While it seems likely that he’ll land with the Clippers, it remains to be seen whether his longtime basketball partner, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, will grant this unexpected wish. Sources say, however, that there is strong optimism on Harden’s side that it will indeed happen. Both Kawhi Leonardand Paul George are said to be on board with the idea of Harden potentially joining their core, according to sources.

Even with the playoff frustrations, and the challenge of sharing the spotlight with someone as dynamic and dominant as reigning MVP Joel Embiid, there was a sense around the league that the chance to contend for his first title again might be enough to bring Harden back. Moreover, many believed that the late-May hiring of Nick Nurse to replace Doc Rivers as coach would lead to Harden re-signing. But in the end, sources involved in the matter say, it was a series of silent Sixers signals sent in recent weeks that compelled Harden to pursue that goal elsewhere yet again.

When Harden decided to take a significant pay cut nearly a year ago,declining his $47.4 million player option with the Philadelphia 76ers in order to sign a one-plus-one deal in which he would be paid $33 million for the 2022-23 campaign, there was a widespread belief that it was a classic case of quid pro quo. Harden would give some money back as a way of helping the Sixers fill out their roster, thereby inching them even closer to a title that has eluded the franchise since 1983 and Harden for his entire professional career (circa 2009). And in the following offseason, many presumed, the 10-time All-Star and former MVP would be handsomely rewarded with a contract more befitting of his future Hall of Fame talents.

If Harden chose to leave, perhaps rejoining the Houston Rockets franchisewhere Morey brought him to town via trade from Oklahoma City back in 2012 and where Harden was widely known to be strongly considering a return, that would be one thing. But Morey and the Sixers, surely, would make it clear that they wanted him back in a big — and expensive — way this time around. Right?

As it turned out, that league-wide expectation was wildly wrong.

While free agency doesn’t officially begin until Friday evening, a player of Harden’s caliber could typically expect to have some clarity about the incumbent franchise’s intentions long before that time arrives. But in recent weeks and days, sources say, all indications on Harden’s side pointed to the Sixers forcing him to test the market before they would make an offer of any kind. The understandable concern for Harden, sources say, was that Philadelphia was preparing to offer him the kind of short-term, team-friendly contract that wouldn’t come close to reflecting his stature in the league or the level of his current play (he averaged 21 points, a league-leading 10.7 assists and 6.1 rebounds in the regular season; 20.3 points, 8.3 assists and 6.2 rebounds in 11 postseason games). Harden, who hired Troy Payne, Mike Silverman and Brandon Grier of Equity Basketball to be his agents in February after going more than five years without full-time representation, had no interest in being put in that compromised negotiating position. And it would only grow worse as free agency neared.

Sources say the Rockets — with a first-year coach in Ime Udoka, a cadre of young prospects and $64 million in salary cap space to spend — had already chosen not to pursue Harden in free agency in recent weeks and thus eliminated another of his top options. As so many suspected long ago, when the league wide chatter about Harden heading back to the rebuilding Rockets was growing louder by the month, the fit was ultimately deemed incongruous. There is still no shortage of love for Harden and his game among Rockets officials, with owner Tilman Fertitta, his son and liaison, Patrick, and general manager Rafael Stone chief among that group, but the choice was made to take a pass on another Harden chapter.

Harden had serious interest in a pre-Bradley Beal trade to the Phoenix Sunstoo, with his old friend Kevin Durantknown to be in favor of the possible reunion. Harden, who went from LA to Arizona State en route to the NBA and still owns a third home in the Phoenix area, considers the region a third home of sorts and was excited by the notion of heading to the Valley of the Sun. But the Sixers never engaged with the Suns regarding a possible deal, and the Beal trade with Washington emerged before a conversation between Philadelphia and Phoenix was ever had.

Harden was losing leverage by the day. Sources say Morey, meanwhile, insisted that he was choosing not to discuss free agency before it was permitted by league rules, in large part, because of the price that the Sixers paid for doing so previously. And in a most ironic twist, his reasoning was rooted in the moves that Philadelphia had been able to make because of Harden’s choice to take a pay cut.

Just eight months ago, the NBA announced that the Sixers had engaged in premature free agency discussions with P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr. before their signings last summer. As a result, they were docked second-round picks in 2023 and 2024. The league’s investigation, it should also be noted, also determined that there was no wrongdoing found relating to Harden’s choice to pass on the $15 million of savings to the Sixers.

No matter the reasoning, Morey’s choice to keep Harden and his camp in the dark regarding the Sixers’ plans had everything to do with Harden’s choice to ask out. And as Morey knows perhaps better than anyone, the prospect of keeping Harden against his wishes — as the Rockets and Brooklyn Nets can attest — is unpleasant at best and untenable at worst. A deal with the Clippers may be the only way to salvage this messy situation.

 

Dangerous liaison.

 

Daryl said that Harden is like a son to him, moved Heaven and earth to reunite with him in Philly and still managed to screw the pooch enough to bury the franchise. Smart guy, but EQ of a nat.

 

I'm good with it. Just make wise choices in the crappy FA pool we've got available. I would rather keep growing our guys that further delay their development now that we have real coaching.

 

@DatRocketFan thank you jebus!

 

This generation's George Gervin. Was fun having him around in his prime.

 

One week ago Mr reliable Sam Amick told us Rockets were very much interested and in the running.

Yesterday he reported that this hasn't been true for weeks.

This is a lesson for you guys in how the media works. If the reporter can prove to their employer that someone told them something that gets clicks, they are publishing that sh*t. Doesn't matter if they don't believe it's true. That goes for Amick, Woj, Shams, doesn't matter who. There are no such reporters who don't take kick-backs or opportunity for future access or opportunity to gain a ton of followers.

ESPN is in panic mode every summer wondering how they will get eyes on their channels while we wait for the regular season. They will look at the top list of FA's, literally write up narratives for each of them, inform their staff about the narrative they're pursuing then they will go on saying anything that can't be proven to be a lie which fits the narrative.

I watch it just like everyone else and of course there's sometimes truth to it, but I know what I'm watching and reading. If you follow the money, you will be right more than 90% of the time. If you follow these reporters you will barely be right 50% of the time. This stuff is for drama and entertainment, it's not for information. There's not enough profit if people can know 90% of the answers themselves.

 

EQ and IQ are related. Even if you are too thick to empathize with how your actions affect others, as part of your job you should know that you shouldn’t hustle Hall of Famers…

Typical Morey. “I want J.Allen, Mobley, FRPs, your firstborn child, a kidney and a another vital organ to be named later, for Tobias Harris". No realization that this is a sleazy bad-faith move that would offend opposing GMs and make it harder to do business down the road; i.e. it’s just dumb.

 

Lol, what.

You can say all you want about Morey......but Harden is a ticking time bomb, just someone who is constantly changing his mind, constantly looking for the meaning of his basketball life.

So now Harden is the new personified EQ to you?

 

Not according to psychnewsdaily.com as reported by google...

 

Harden doesn't have to have high EQ for Daryl to have a really low one..

 

You do not even know the intricate details of Harden in Philly.

Maybe Harden wanted his time to be limited in Philly and Morey just tried to make the best of it which ultimately was not worth it.

One year longer or two years longer......we do not know how good or how bad the relationship between him and Embiid really was.

EQ does not repair non existent relationships between your two superstars. It was merely a gamble and Harden was not 2018 Harden.

 

I start to doubt Daryl's IQ too. He hadn't made outstanding moves lately at least to an untrained eye.

 

I mean, If Embiid shows up AT ALL Phila is playing Miami in the ECF...

 

Man I am glad Morey is gone. Good luck trying to get players to trust you after doing your boy like that after he gave you a discount. No matter what really went on, the optics are terrible.

 

I didn’t say anything about harden’s eq. Morey made treating players like assets infamous in his time here on the Rockets, so much so that our reputation was tarnished among agents and players around the league. Even after jumping ship to a new franchise this still inevitably caught up with him and has blown up in his face. Harden is a hofer and duo to the mvp Embiid, they had a great relationship and it was Harden who was hugging him when Embiid found out he won the mvp. It is Daryl’s job to placate and build around these two superstars. Instead he just pissed away one of them and it is almost a certainty that the other will ask out after. Their franchise is destroyed, just like ours was three years ago.

 

Yeah I mean I was pro-Harden coming back but now that we have to trade to get him I'm completely out.

I have no interest in giving up assets for a one year deal where he could decide to go ring chasing again after we have traded away KJM and Eason or something.

Hope he ends up in a good situation though.