A new report came out today in regards to NBA executives preparing to ask the league to look into potential tampering and collusion between James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Over the past few weeks, reports and rumors have been scattered all over the internet about James Harden’s interest in joining Joel Embiid and the Sixers organization this offseason. James Harden has a player option heading into the 2022-23 season, meaning he can opt out and become a free agent after this year. 

Morey and the 76ers have tried to land James Harden in the past, and honestly, it was the likely tipping point of Ben Simmons now nine month long saga of refusing to play basketball for the Sixers. 

This season, Harden is averaging 23 points per game with 8.1 rebounds, and 10.1 assists, shooting 42% from the floor and 33.7% from three point range. 

Obviously, landing Harden this offseason would be huge for the Philadelphia 76ers as they continue to attempt to fill the roster holes that Ben Simmons created by refusing to play basketball. 

Here’s what Chris Haynes said about the potential tampering and collusion inquiries: 

“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,” NBA insider Chris Haynes said. “… 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—you know, as to why we’re probably hearing a lot of Philadelphia, James Harden talk. I was told there will be complaints issued to the league [to] try to investigate to see if there was any collusion.”

According to his report, NBA executives are concerned about James Harden and his connection to Sixers co-owner Michael Rubin. 

“There’s another player we’re going to add to this dynamic: Michael Rubin,” Haynes said. “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.”

Great. Leave it to Michael Rubin to screw things up for the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Still, I don’t understand how this is collusion in the first place. Everyone and their mothers know that trading James Harden for Ben Simmons actually would work out well for both parties involved and again, there have been Harden to Philly connections buzzing for the past two years. 

Not to mention, the connection between Morey and Harden dates back to Houston. I don’t know what Michael Rubin has to do with anything but god damn, I wish he would just say out of everything involving the 76ers and potential trades. 

The entire NBA is just one big pile of collusion. In this specific situation, all the lazy reporters who are begging for clicks and engagement turned rumors into reports. It’s the only reason that it’s in the media to begin with, so I doubt any of these investigations hold much weight.