James Harden is still a player for the Philadelphia 76ers. Still, there can be no relationship repair regarding the organization’s “front office,” aka Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey. The disgruntled star made his first public comments on Friday since rejoining the team for practice.
“No” was the prevailing word for Harden when asked if his relationship with Morey was salvageable. “This is not even about this situation; this is in life. When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage … you lose trust in someone, you know what I mean? It’s pretty simple.”
Separated … Not Divorced
Morey and Harden created a career-defining moment together 11 years ago when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey brought Harden to Texas in a blockbuster trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden arguably had one of the best runs of his career with the Rockets, where he spent most of his NBA career, before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets in January 2021.
Once Harden moved from the Nets to the Sixers in a trade for Ben Simmons in February 2022, he believed his path to a Sixers legacy career lay in front of him. However, after the team lost 4-3 to the Boston Celtics during this year’s Eastern Conference semifinals, Harden says the relationship soured.
“Me and the front office [Morey] had a very, very good relationship for a decade,” Harden continued. “There was constant communication, you know what I mean? There was no communication once we lost.”
Per multiple reports, Harden was unhappy with Morey because no long-term, max contract offer was waiting for him during the offseason. That made the lack of communication a signal to Harden of what he deemed a goal unfulfilled.
“When I got traded here, my whole thing is I wanted to retire a Sixer,” Harden continued. “I wanted to be here and retire a Sixer. And the front office didn’t have that in their future plans.”
Sixer Legacy Lost
Per an August report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Sixers were no longer interested in trading Harden, which made the player “unhappy.” When asked whether he would like to be traded, Harden said, “You’ve got to talk to the front office about that.”
Upon Harden’s request, initially, the Sixers agreed to seek a trade after he decided to pick up his $35.6 million player option in June. The Sixers did have sporadic conversations with the Clippers. However, the Sixers’ asking price was reportedly high, and no teams could make the deal.
For now, Harden is showing up to practice ready to work, and with free agency looming, he might put his issues with Morey to the side to focus on bolstering his trade potential. Showing up to practice and engaging with the media again with a more politically correct approach to his frustrations is an excellent start after a contentious off-season of anger.
