Latest on James Harden

A trade away from the 76ers remains a possibility for James Harden, giving him his wish and ending any possibility of a distraction.

But Harden remaining with the Sixers is a possibility, too. 

In other words, not much has changed since Harden first made his trade demand back in June. The Sixers have talked Harden trade — mostly with the Clippers — but are reportedly close on nothing.

All of this was covered extensively by Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here is what she wrote:

“Still, some outsiders — especially in a passionate Philly market — remain vocally antsy to quickly cut ties with Harden, to make a trade now (even if it is less-than-satisfactory) to end any potential drama, distraction or irritation.

“The belief inside the organization, a source recently told The Inquirer, is that such a move would be too reckless to justify. That it would all but guarantee the Sixers would drop to a lower tier — directly countering their goal to compete for contender status every season of Joel Embiid’s tenure — instead of maintaining some level of hope that they could re-enter that category in 2023-24.

“Sources on both sides of the Harden situation concede they are taking things day-by-day. Or hour-by-hour. It’s still possible that Harden turns disruptive, as he did while forcing his way out of Houston in 2021 and Brooklyn the following year. Yet a source said (team president Daryl Morey) is unlikely to allow Harden’s behavior to force his hand to make a trade, because (coach Nick Nurse) could bench Harden and let rising guard Tyrese Maxey gain experience as a primary ballhandler.”

• Harden has yet to speak to the media, but some of his teammates have. “He’s been doing a little bit of stuff,” Embiid said, via Keith Pompey of the Inquirer. “He hasn’t played, but his energy has been great. He’s been around. And I think he’s great, coming in and not being a distraction.”
• Nurse also talked glowingly about Harden. “He’s just not quite ready to do the live stuff, but inching closer to that,” Nurse said, via Pompey. “We got pretty much the first 50 minutes or hour or so where we are doing a lot of technique, a lot of the drills, and putting in a lot of the things. He’s doing that. He’s doing that at a really high level.”
• We have tons more on our 76ers page. You can check out the latest here.