The four players the Sixers acquired in their James Harden trade with the Clippers – Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington, and Kenyon Martin Jr. – arrived at the team’s facility on Wednesday but are unlikely to play on Thursday vs. Toronto, tweets Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Saturday’s home game against Phoenix is a more realistic target for those newcomers, Mizell adds.
Meanwhile, even though Harden hadn’t played yet this season for the 76ers, the deal removes a starter from the team’s lineup — since arriving in Philadelphia in 2022, P.J. Tucker had started all 89 regular season and playoff games he’d played for the club.
Forward Kelly Oubre will start in Tucker’s place for now, head coach Nick Nurse told reporters on Wednesday, but that may not be a permanent change. As Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports explains (via Twitter), Nurse has said he likes the spark Oubre has provided off the bench, so he may want to return Oubre to that role once Morris, Batum, Covington, and Martin are up to speed, with one of those ex-Clippers moving into the starting five.
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype and Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link) each identified some players the Sixers may target on the trade market using their newly acquired draft assets, weighing the likelihood of those players becoming available this season and evaluating whether Philadelphia has the pieces to land them. A pair of Bulls (Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan) and Raptors (Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby) show up on both lists, which also feature a few other names.
- The draft assets the Sixers are receiving and their ability to move on from the Harden saga have been frequently cited in the last 36 hours as the most important aspects of Philadelphia’s trade with the Clippers. But the deal will also improve the 76ers’ depth, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who notes that Tucker’s role had declined, Filip Petrusev wasn’t ready for rotation minutes as a rookie, and Harden – of course – had yet to actually suit up for a game this season.
- When Harden showed up for the Sixers’ team flight last Wednesday after the team asked him to stay behind in Philadelphia and he wasn’t permitted to board the plane, it “inflamed the situation” on both sides and represented the “final straw” in the club’s efforts to reincorporate him, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Trade discussions with the Clippers resumed a couple days later and picked up steam after that, per Shelburne.
- Shelburne’s story on Harden’s final days is chock full of interesting tidbits, including the fact that Harden communicated directly with head coach Nick Nurse, general manager Elton Brand, and owner Josh Harris after making his trade request, but would only communicate with president Daryl Morey through agent Michael Silverman.
- Shelburne also hears from sources that Harden’s camp became convinced ahead of free agency in June that if he declined his option, Morey and the 76ers only intended to offer him a two-year deal with a second-year team option. The team, wary of gun-jumping after being penalized for it in 2022, insisted it would make a strong offer once free agency opened, but Harden “didn’t buy it,” Shelburne writes.
It’s a good bet the Harden trade will end up looking as misguided [to put it politely] as the Gobert deal.
I don’t think enough is being made of the fact that they cannot extend him and if things don’t go well and he doesn’t resign they are in a terrible position. They gutted a lot of depth and consolidated all their expiring contracts while also trading another first and giving more swaps. The CBA rules fully kick in next season they cannot sign players to make up for Harden if he goes and the chest of assets is pretty much empty.
Maybe in kind, but not in volume. regardless of how harden turns out for clippers, nothing will top the Gobert trade
Yeah, the Gobert trade is in a different league. Gobert is a worse player than Harden, on a massive, borderline immovable contract, and they gave up so much to get him despite already having an All-Star Center. Like, half their rotation, five picks, and Kessler. Just an awful deal from every perspective. At least the Harden makes sense from the perspective of “more backup All-Star caliber guys, playmaking, and shooting, all of which we need”. And they gave up a guy who wasn’t even playing, two bench pieces, and a young guy who isn’t a potential star with minimal draft compensation. I don’t like Harden on the Clippers, but it’s not even in the same solar system of how bad the Gobert deal looked, both at the time and a year on.
That Gobert trade tops the nets trading Brown and Tatum for KG and Paul Pierce as the worst in basketball history.
Lol I absolutely would not go that far. Celtics been going deep in the playoffs after that deal. They are not close to the same damage.
We can’t fully judge the Gobert trade until the Jazz make picks. They have plenty of time to screw it up.
Celtics got the win from getting 2 foundational building blocks for 2 hof players that were almost completely done and old. It’s extra early, but the moment I saw that gobert trade I thought immediately that it has the best chance of being even worse.
Please Siakim to Sixers
Smaller moves that the Sixers could target that make sense if Morey does NOT want a guy with multiple years or small cap hold:
Tyus Jones, Luke Kennard (TO), Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson, Patrick Williams, Joe Harris, Gary Harris, Gary Trent Jr, Hayward, Alec Burks,
Couple guys they could take a flier on that really aren’t in their current team’s plans: Agbaji, Hayes.
I like the Buddy Heild idea
I don’t give a Schiste about the Final Straw, Harden wanted out and he is out
Good Riddance to Mr. Chicken Wing