The Philadelphia 76ers have traded James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers, ending a summer-long drama that included Harden calling Sixers GM Daryl Morey a liar and declaring their relationship irreparable. Harden now goes to his preferred destination.
Trade details (via ESPN)
Clippers get: Harden, P.J. Tucker, Filip Petrusev
Sixers get: Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nic Batum, KJ Martin, a 2028 unprotected first-round pick, two second-round picks, a 2029 pick swap and a first via the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Karalis’ Analysis:
In a nutshell, Tyrese Maxey came out looking like an All-NBA player and it made moving Harden a bit easier for Morey. Not only did Morey not want to have a distraction around the team, he didn’t want to mess with the flow of the Sixers offense run by Maxey. He’s the Eastern Conference Player of the Week after the opening three games, averaging 30 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 6.3 assists. And that's all with him and Joel Embiid still figuring out their chemistry.
The Sixers are 2-1 with the East’s best point differential after three games. In a way, it was Maxey who forced Morey’s hand more than Harden. With the league breathing down their neck due to player participation rules, the Sixers had little choice but to pull off a deal now. The normal playbook of sending Harden home and playing hardball no longer existed. The pressure around Morey due to Harden’s actions, Maxey’s effectiveness, and new league rules made this deal happen now rather than at the deadline.
So Morey got himself some depth for Harden instead of another high-level player, which, honestly, he probably wasn’t getting for Harden at this point anyway. They're going to hope Covington can space the floor in the Tucker spot and that Batum and Martin can give them some decent minutes off the bench.
Most importantly, all of those guys are unrestricted free agents next season, so Morey’s vision of max cap space, to lure a premium free agent still exists. He has a team that's good enough to compete right now, which will presumably keep Embiid happy. They are probably not good enough to make it past the second round … again … but now Morey can assuage his big man’s concerns by saying help is coming. Whether it’s by signing or by trade, the Sixers now have some accumulated draft capital from this trade and the cap space to absorb a player without the restrictive trade rules.
Of course, that player has to become available. But that's another issue for another time.
The Sixers will remain a good team, and a tough obstacle for the Celtics. But they didn’t make themselves a tougher obstacle. Maxey will be hard to guard and Embiid is the MVP for a reason, but having seen the Boston Stock Exchange of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White (© Richard White, White’s father) in action, the Celtics still have the best defense to limit Maxey. And if Embiid goes off for 50, so be it. The key against the Sixers has always been to limit their other players.
In the end, the Sixers did the best they could with the situation they were in. They remain good, but they didn’t get better this season. This does put them in a position to get much better next season, but that's not a guarantee, and it’s still not guaranteed they’d be better than Boston in either season.
Ultimately, the Celtics can look at this deal with a shrug of their shoulders. The top of the East will still be Boston and Milwaukee, and Philly can fight it out with the rest of the next tier. If Embiid sticks around to see the plan through, we can revisit where they stand next season.