Adrian Wojnarowski reported yesterday that the Philadelphia 76ers officially put a halt on trade talks involving James Harden, as the team intends to bring him back for training camp and ultimately, the 2023-24 NBA season. 

Sixers end trade talks for James Harden, expect him to report to training camp

To recap, while the majority of Philly sports fans have completely shifted their fandom over to the Phillies and now the Eagles, James Harden opted in to his $35.6 player option to come back to the Sixers next season. That was however, under the assumption that he would be traded. 

Why did Harden assume he would be traded?

Well, that never really made sense to me in the first place. If there was another NBA team out there looking to sign Harden, they would have and the player option could have been declined. 

That obviously did not happen and James Harden set his eyes on the Los Angeles Clippers as the team he wanted to be traded to this summer. 

While the Sixers did have conversations with the Clippers over the past few months, no traction on a viable trade package ever materialized. 

According to Woj, the Sixers asking price was “too steep” and no other team in the NBA was able to meet their demands. Again, that was always going to be the case given the fact that NO TEAM WANTED TO SIGN HARDEN when he had the opportunity to be a free agent. 

Anyways, shortly after Woj released that report yesterday, James Harden’s camp fired back and said that James Harden would not be showing up to camp with the Sixers and remains unhappy that he’s not being traded. 

Go figure. 

Sam Amick from The Athletic released a report saying that Harden, who again, opted into his $35.6 million player option in late June after no team wanted to sign him to a long term contract, still “no longer wants to play for Philadelphia and has no plans of taking part in training camp.” 

James Harden has “no plans” in reporting to Sixers training camp

This is absolutely pathetic.

How the Sixers, just two years removed from the entire Ben Simmons situation, are now entering yet another year with a star player not wanting to play in this city, is crazy and it doesn’t appear that Daryl Morey or anyone in the front office will be held accountable for the blatant mismanagement of the entire Harden debacle. 

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