NBA Front Office Confidential: Did the Sixers actually win the James Harden trade?

Clippers acquire James Harden in blockbuster trade with 76ers | Undisputed Colin Cowherd reacts to the blockbuster James Harden trade

Ric Bucher

FOX Sports NBA Analyst

The word fleeced trended on social media late Monday night, shortly after reports surfaced that the Philadelphia 76ers had traded disgruntled star guard James Harden to the LA Clippers for a package of mostly veteran role players and draft picks. The general consensus among NBA fans: the Clippers overwhelmingly won the deal.

The general consensus among executives and scouts: Remains to be seen, but not likely. The only sure-fire winner: 76ers team president Daryl Morey, who extricated himself — at least for now — from the corner in which he’d painted himself.

“Maybe,” said one Western Conference scout, “Daryl Morey isn’t the most overrated GM in the league after all. Every doctor I know says to cut out cancer when you find it. Harden is a cancer on the body politic. Cut your losses and chart a new path. Bravo.”

By moving Harden, Morey erases the cloud hanging over both him and the franchise since the player he acquired twice — once from the Oklahoma City Thunder as the Houston Rockets’ GM and again roughly two years ago from the Brooklyn Nets as 76ers team president — said last summer, “Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”

Harden had already made his desire to be traded known when he opted into the final year of his contract on June 29. The dissolution of Morey and Harden’s relationship, which had previously appeared remarkably cozy for an executive and player, apparently stemmed from the Sixers‘ failure to offer Harden a maximum-salary contract after Harden accepted a team-friendly deal the previous summer to facilitate the signing of veteran forward P.J. Tucker, who, coincidentally, is also part of the trade along with Filip Petrusev. In return, the 76ers are getting veteran forwards Marcus Morris, Nic Batum and Robert Covington, 22-year old forward KJ Martin, two first-round picks, a first-round pick swap and two second-round picks.

It’s all that draft capital that has most scouts and executives bullish on the deal working out for the 76ers, because it gives Morey the means to potentially make another deal.

“Where this puts the 76ers all depends on what Daryl flips those assets for,” said an Eastern Conference GM.

Getting Tucker off the books also expands their potential offseason cap space to a maximum salary. Tucker is almost certain to exercise his player option to earn another $11 million next season, when he’ll be 39.

The general view seems to be the Sixers didn’t get worse in the short term and expanded their means to get better in the long term. The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks are considered the top tier in the Eastern Conference, with the 76ers leading the next tier.

“Philadelphia was a front-runner for third (in the conference) with Harden and still are without him,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “But now they upgraded the role players and added max cap room with the sneaky good move of getting off P.J. Tucker’s money next summer and restocked their draft assets, which Daryl has proven he can successfully put in play to acquire impact players.”

Clippers acquire James Harden in blockbuster trade with 76ers | Undisputed

That said, no one faulted the Clippers for making the deal, seeing their need to upgrade their roster as great as the 76ers’ need to find Harden a new home. This season is viewed as potentially their last best chance to validate the draft picks, young talent and salary they used to acquire the superstar tandem of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The deal to get George from the Thunder is looking particularly shortsighted now, having included All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and five future first-round picks, including one used to select starting forward Jalen Williams.

“This is the ugly side of the ‘all-in’ moves fans and media clamor for,” the executive said. “If you don’t win big, you wake up with no draft picks and a future predicated on cap room created by not re-signing the guys you gave up all the draft picks to acquire.”

Both Leonard and George could potentially opt for free agency this summer, along with Harden and Westbrook.

“It’s a deal that needed to be made,” the Western Conference scout said. “The Clippers are looking to hold their championship window open a little longer, and guard against the injury bug that has plagued their aging stars. It’s high risk, moderate reward. Why not push all your chips to the center of the table and go for it?”

The Eastern Conference GM agreed. “The talent is there, no doubt,” he said. “The questions are health, availability and leadership. But stars win in this league.”

Stars whose respective talents mesh. That’s where the skepticism arises. Westbrook and Harden have played together twice before, in Oklahoma City and again, a decade later, with the Houston Rockets. The reunion lasted one season. They finished as the fourth seed in the pandemic-disrupted 2019-20 season and reached the second round of the playoffs in the Orlando bubble, but afterward both requested to be traded, believing they were not an ideal fit.

An Eastern Conference scout isn’t convinced anything has changed. “I don’t like it for Clips,” he said. “I can’t see James fitting in and being a third option. He and Westbrook also don’t fit. We know that Russ is very limited playing off the ball and James is ball dominant. We will see.”

The Eastern Conference GM has questions about how the entire foursome will fit together. “Those four all need the ball in theirs hands,” he said. “Who is the primary ball handler? Who gets them organized?”

While Harden gives them an overall upgrade in talent, it would appear he makes them more of what they’ve been during the Leonard-George iteration of the Clippers: isolation-offense heavy, mercurial in effort and performance and injury prone.

“The issues are many,” the Western Conference scout said. “How many dribble freaks can you have? Chemistry. Who’s ‘The Man?’ More importantly, who thinks they’re ‘The Man?’ Defensive inequalities. PG and Kawhi play defense, Russ and James don’t. Leadership — leaders need compliant followers. A team that lives and dies with isolation basketball added more to die on. Ouch.”

Colin Cowherd reacts to the blockbuster James Harden trade

Isolation basketball, of course, is a big part of the playoffs. The belief since Leonard and George joined forces is that if they were healthy at the end of the year they could make a formidable postseason run. But neither of them has played more than 56 regular-season games in any of the last three seasons and Leonard has had his last two playoff appearances cut short due to injury.

Is Harden willing to be the playmaker and distributor the Clippers need? He did lead the league in assists last season. Can he provide enough firepower that Leonard and George can rest without impacting the Clippers’ chance to win? All fair questions that need to be answered. But the alternative was to stand pat with a team that went 44-38 last season and bowed out of the first round of the playoffs in five games against the Phoenix Suns.

“The Clips had to do it,” the Eastern Conference executive said. “They weren’t good enough as is.”

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, “Rebound,” on NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and “Yao: A Life In Two Worlds.” He also has a daily podcast, “On The Ball with Ric Bucher.” Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.

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