James Harden is a former MVP. He is something close to a present-day All-Star. His future, at the moment, can’t be so easily condensed into a single sentence. Let’s review the series of events that led us to “Daryl Morey is a liar” to try to figure out where he’s going.
Feb. 2022: Harden forces a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for a package built around similarly disgruntled star Ben Simmons. It is the second trade he has forced in 13 months.May 2022: Philadelphia loses its second-round series to the Miami Heat. Harden scores 11 points in the series-ending loss, his lowest point total in a playoff game that did not involve a documented injury since 10-point debacle in Game 6 of a 2017 season-ending loss to the San Antonio Spurs. July 2022: Harden re-signs with the 76ers on a two-year, $68.6 million deal. Harden declined his $47.3 million player option to become a free agent and sign this contract, and in the process, allowed the 76ers the flexibility to sign P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr. Harden claimed at the time that he “told Daryl to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever is left over.” Notably, however, no NBA team went into free agency with enough cap space to match the $33.6 million salary the 76ers gave Harden for the 2022-23 season, and all five teams that operated below the cap during the 2022 offseason were coming off of lottery seasons. Therefore, it is impossible to know if any suggestion that Harden actually left money on the table beyond his one-year option is truly accurate, and even if he was willing to, he notably had no path to a market-value salary on a contender without Philadelphia’s cooperation.Dec. 2022: ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Harden is “seriously considering a return to the Houston Rockets” as a free agent in the 2023 offseason. The 76ers are 19-12 at that moment and appear primed to compete in the Eastern Conference.May 2023: Philadelphia blows a 3-2 lead to the Boston Celtics in the second round. Harden shoots 7-of-27 from the floor in Games 6 and…..
