Santa has delivered the Philadelphia 76ers one thing fairly unusual. About an hour earlier than their Christmas Day opener towards the New York Knicks at Madison Sq. Backyard, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that James Harden is critically contemplating a reunion with the Houston Rockets subsequent summer time, supplied that he decides to say no his $35.6 million participant possibility for the 2023-24 season and never re-sign with the Sixers.
Harden is coming off a 20-point, 21-assist, 11-rebound performance in a 119-114 victory towards the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. He signed a two-year, $68.8 million contract with Philadelphia in July. The Sixers are 19-12 and have gained seven straight video games, however, based on ESPN, he’s nonetheless drawn to Houston for quite a lot of causes.
From ESPN:
Harden and his inner-circle have been brazenly weighing Houston in current weeks and months, sources mentioned, a exceptional chance provided that he requested and acquired a commerce out of the franchise lower than two years in the past.
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Regardless of forcing his method out of the Rockets in January of 2021, Harden has maintained one thing of a magnetic pull to Houston, drawn to the group, life-style and household there, sources mentioned. After what would grow to be comparatively transient stops in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, a transfer again to a rebuilding Rockets franchise would successfully symbolize consolation and familiarity over a direct championship pursuit.
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For all of Harden’s historical past and reference to Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and CEO Tad Brown, his working relationships with Embiid and coach Doc Rivers resemble one thing nearer to a piece in progress. The Sixers gave up important belongings to amass Harden and he is anticipated to stay a precedence to re-sign on a brand new deal for a second consecutive summer time.
Harden has not even been a Sixer for a full 12 months. He arrived in a blockbuster commerce in February, with Philadelphia sending Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets. That commerce adopted his January 2021 commerce from Houston to Brooklyn. In each situations, Harden had requested a commerce. When he re-signed with the Sixers, he took simply sufficient cash for them so as to add to the roster in free company. Philadelphia signed ex-Rockets P.J. Tucker and Danuel Home, and, in October, the league took away its 2023 and 2024 second-round picks after an investigation revealed that it had engaged in discussions with Tucker and Home earlier than it was permitted to take action.
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In a current Fox Sports feature by Yaron Weitzman, Sixers president Daryl Morey mentioned that Harden and Embiid “discuss greater than any famous person combo that I’ve ever had collectively.” In the identical story, Harden mentioned, “Truthfully, the one factor that I am lacking is a championship.” In response to ESPN, Harden might be months away from leaving a staff that’s all-in on profitable a championship to rejoin the staff that he left lower than two years in the past, a staff that now has a 9-23 report, the worst within the West, and is within the league’s backside 4 on each offense and protection.
Harden turns 34 in August. The 20-year-old Jalen Green, 21-year-old Jabari Smith Jr. and 20-year-old Alperen Sengun comprise the Rockets’ present core. These timelines don’t appear to align in anyway, however we have seen one thing sort of like this earlier than: When LeBron James went again to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014, Kyrie Irving was 22 years previous and each Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson had been 23.
James didn’t return to Cleveland, although, simply to play with a bunch of kiddos. The Cavs traded the 21-year-old Anthony Bennett and the 18-year-old Andrew Wiggins — on the time, the final two No. 1 picks within the draft — for Kevin Love. Months later, they traded Waiters in a deal that introduced again J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert. If Harden does find yourself wanting to return in a similar way, then the Rockets must ask themselves not simply whether or not or not they need to get again into the Beard enterprise, however whether or not or not they need to abandon their rebuild with a purpose to construct a contender. The upper their decide within the 2023 draft, the extra attention-grabbing this dialogue turns into.
In 17 video games this season, Harden is averaging 21.4 factors, 10.9 assists and 6.6 rebounds in 37.8 minutes, with a 25.7 % utilization fee and a 58.1 % true capturing proportion. He would lead the league in assists if he had performed sufficient video games to be eligible.
