James Harden, Daryl Morey relationship ‘fractured’ as 76ers commerce request drags

Regardless of Joel Embiid hoping that James Harden’s mind could be swayed on wanting to go away Philly, it doesn’t look like altering anytime quickly. 

Moreover, Harden’s relationship with Daryl Morey, the 76ers’ president of basketball operations, has apparently “fractured,” NBA insider Shams Charania reported on “The Rally” on Monday.

Charania additionally reported that Harden continues to need to be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. 

“The connection between James Harden and Daryl Morey, it’s primarily severed,” Charania mentioned. “It’s primarily fractured all through this course of. There’s not that valve of open-minded, open-ended belief that we’ve seen over the course of 692 video games that Daryl Morey and James Harden have been collectively in Houston and in Philly.” 

Morey and Harden’s time collectively dates again to the times the pair spent with the Rockets, however the Sixers’ sluggish motion to discover a commerce for former MVP has seemingly taken its toll on their relationship. 

The NBA celebrity had been sad with the best way Philadelphia had dealt with his free company and it was reported in late June that he’d decide into the ultimate yr of his cope with the 76ers to be able to work out a commerce out of city. 

“When James Harden opted in, the choice to work collectively on a commerce, that stemmed from James Harden believing that there was no actual intention from the Sixers in giving him a long-term supply as a free agent,” Charania mentioned. “And so everybody across the Sixers, they know that he’s been extremely unnerved about how the group has dealt with his potential free company. 

“Particularly, final summer season he takes a $15 million pay minimize in wage to permit the Sixers to exit make strikes and make the group higher. So proper now James Harden continues to be the place he’s been the previous couple of weeks. He desires a commerce and he desires a commerce to the Clippers.”

The 76es aren’t seemingly going to take something they will get for Harden and the Philly Voice reported on Monday that they have been searching for “an All-Star-level return for Harden within the occasion that they commerce him.”

ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported throughout Friday’s edition of NBA Today that the Sixers had positioned an “exorbitant” worth on Harden and that groups weren’t displaying a lot curiosity in what Philly was asking. 

Charania mentioned throughout Monday’s report that it will want to return all the way down to the Sixers and Clippers sitting down to interact in significant conversations. 

“We’ve seen how James Harden can come into camp when he’s disgruntled,” Charania mentioned. “He did it in Houston to get out of there, and this time round, there’s not that relationship between Daryl Morey and James Harden is nowhere near being on strong floor.”