{"id":340655,"date":"2023-10-21T03:30:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T03:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=340655"},"modified":"2023-10-21T06:01:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T06:01:13","slug":"sixers-nba-title-hopes-clouded-by-57m-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=340655","title":{"rendered":"Sixers' NBA title hopes clouded by $57m civil war"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Harden<\/a> vowed he would never play for a franchise run by Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> team president Daryl Morey.<\/p>\n

The Sixers learned Harden really may stick to his word, after the disgruntled guard skipped Philadelphia\u2019s entire pre-season slate in the wake of his trade demand. Harden \u2014 officially away because of a personal matter \u2014 did not practice with the Sixers this week and the three-time NBA scoring champion was not at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday AEDT for the finale against Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Harden\u2019s No.1 jersey still hung at the arena – only on sale at team stores for $220.<\/p>\n

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The Sixers are set to open their season on Friday morning AEDT against Milwaukee. They play at Toronto before the October 29 home opener against Portland. Coach Nick Nurse, in his first season after five years with Toronto, is preparing for games without Harden.<\/p>\n

\"BOSTON,<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve been preparing for it all this week, for sure,\u201d Nurse said. <\/p>\n

\u201cLots of thought has gone into him not playing and preparing the team that way this summer. I keep saying, there is another plan if something changes. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s affected us very much, at all. We\u2019ve just gone out and played and we\u2019re going to have to go out play the way we\u2019re trying to play. I think that is without (him) until something changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden and the 76ers are no strangers to turmoil. Harden\u2019s wildly successful tenure in Houston – where he first teamed with Morey, then the general manager – included the scoring titles and 2018 NBA MVP award. But his relationship with Houston eventually soured and he forced his way to Brooklyn in 2021. <\/p>\n

He joined Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and formed a 'Big Three' that was never very big. The trio was socked by injuries and other controversies (notably, Irving\u2019s stance on the COVID-19 vaccine) and they played only 18 games together before, yup, Harden wanted out.<\/p>\n

\"Philadelphia<\/p>\n

So it was off to Philly at the 2022 trade deadline, where he was reunited with Morey and seemed comfortable in his role as a playmaker while the offence ran through Joel Embiid. <\/p>\n

Harden even declined in June 2022 his $75 million option, saying he wanted to give the 76ers flexibility to improve their roster and compete for a championship. <\/p>\n

He signed a deal worth slightly over $107 million, paying him about $50 million last season with a $57 million player option for this season.<\/p>\n

The Sixers were able to sign P.J. Tucker to the full mid-level exception and Danuel House to the bi-annual exception because Harden declined his option. Both players are still on the Sixers.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where circumstances get tricky. Part of Harden\u2019s complaint stems from his belief he should have earned a long-term contract with the Sixers after last season. It never came, thus the trade demand. <\/p>\n

\"CAMDEN,<\/p>\n

Harden could have declined the option and decided to try for free agency. The player known as 'The Beard' instead picked up his $57 million option with the 76ers for this season, with the desire to force a trade. <\/p>\n

Harden preferred a trade to the Los Angeles Clippers but those talks \u2014 and talks with other teams \u2014 went nowhere.<\/p>\n

Harden unloaded on Morey at an August promotional event in China.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organisation that he\u2019s a part of,\u201d Harden said at the event. \u201cLet me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organisation that he\u2019s a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA fined Harden $158,000 for his comments. The league talked to Harden as part of its investigation and confirmed that his comments referenced his belief that the 76ers would not grant his trade request.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

In large part to not violate parts of his contract that could affect free agency under the Collective Bargaining Agreement and to show he's ready to play should he get traded to the Clippers, Harden eventually showed up late to training camp and did practice with the 76ers at their New Jersey complex. He later said he lost trust in Morey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be here and retire a Sixer, and the front office didn\u2019t have that in their future plans,\u201d Harden said last week. \u201cIt\u2019s literally out of my control. It\u2019s something I didn\u2019t want to happen to be in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nurse said it wasn't a waste of time \u2014 \u201cit's cool\u201d \u2014 to even bother to practice this preseason with Harden in attendance.<\/p>\n

Now Nurse, Morey, Embiid and the rest of the Sixers are set to navigate a season \u2014 which more or less hinges on the outcome of the Harden situation \u2014 with the promise of more off-court theatrics ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really doesn't feel like there's a need to address anything,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cListen, if you're not fully aware of what's going on … I think you're probably asleep a lot or something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Harden vowed he would never play for a franchise run by Philadelphia 76ers team president Daryl Morey. The Sixers learned Harden really may stick […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":292057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=340655"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":340661,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340655\/revisions\/340661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/292057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=340655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=340655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=340655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}