The NBA is launching an inquiry into James Harden‘s public callout of Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.
Harden made waves earlier this week when he called Morey a “liar” during his marketing tour with Adidas in China.
“Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden said. “Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”
According to Wojnarowski and Shelburne, the league office is attempting to gain an understanding of whether or not Harden plans to hold out in 2023/24, which would be in violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement. The league office is also trying to determine whether the former MVP was referencing past contract discussions with the Sixers that would constitute salary cap circumvention.
ESPN’s report suggests that Harden has privately indicated that his public comments calling Morey a “liar” were a response to the Sixers ending trade discussions regarding Harden and Morey’s expectation that the star guard would report to camp and start the season with the team. Neither the Sixers nor Harden would be in violation of league guidelines if that ends up being the case, Wojnarowski and Shelburne note.
While Harden’s comments were surprising, he never outright made public allegations of a previous handshake agreement being in place with the Sixers on a future contract, Woj writes.
Harden signed a two-year contract worth $68.6MM with a player option in ’23/24 last season, accepting a short-term pay cut on a deal that allowed Philadelphia to bring in P.J. Tucker and Danuel House.
After those dealings, the NBA investigated the Sixers and stripped them of two future second-round picks after determining that the team had premature conversations with Tucker and House. However, the league did not uncover any evidence of Harden or the Sixers agreeing to a future contract contingent on his pay cut at that time, according to Wojnarowski.
Harden exercised that ’23/24 player option in June, with an expectation that Morey would work with him to find a trade that would send him to the Clippers, his preferred destination. Wojnarwoski reports that the Sixers and Clippers engaged in numerous conversations but never gained traction on any deal.
Morey, who faced a similar situation with Ben Simmons, isn’t willing to make a trade involving Harden that negatively impacts the Philadelphia’s chances of contending next year.
The Sixers continue to deny that the organization ever agreed upon an illegal future deal with Harden, Wojnarowski adds.
Dude….everyone knows there was an under the table agreement, no way is harden saying that in public about “ending trade negotiations” the sixers said they would max him and then didn’t offer a contract, but the spin on this will be amusing at worst
Ok wojoparax
When did the sixers say they would max him out?
They changed their minds and a deal didn’t get done, so no punishment should be put on the team. Everyone lies, bosses and employees.
Wrong. No deal to sixers liking no deal.
He took less money last season even if they didnt follow through on a deal. So they benefitted from cap flexibility last year because of it. Thats cap circumvention and if they did that its punishable, and the punishments are usually severe…
What do you mean if they did that? It’s known harden took less money so they could sign Tucker and House
Chapsman is correct … the cap circumvention discussion would be huge if they have proof.
He is allowed to choose to take less with an understanding of cap rules so that a better team is around him if he wants, but no future considerations can be promised in order to entice him to do it. The problem is if your promising future contract guarantees that are tied to that, but not part of an official contract. Like signing a player for the minimum now because you dont have cap room while promising to pay them X once you have the bird rights. This would allow teams to get illegal contracts that really go 2M, 2.1M, 25M, 25M. You cant promise future money that isnt tied to a real on paper contract is how it basically boils down.
Sixers should h3 disciplined and the harden player option abouldcbe voided ! Harden is just as guilty and is factually no victim ! But at least he will be able to join clippers for the league min ! Lose lose for everyone sounds fair
Except your favorite team, lol.
My favorite’ team is the clippers ! Here’s my take I kinda don’t want harden on my team ! I mean i would take him if all it cost was a garbage package of Norman Powell , Marcus Morris and Robert covington! But if I was to say that offer was anything but utter trash for the sixers it would make me no better then lakers fans with their silly one sided proposals acting like it’s great for the other team lol
Losing out on a “possible” max contract is something but if Morey and/or the sixers get punished then Harden should get some official punishment as well.
Harden needs to understand that he has become a massive headache that leaves ruined franchises everywhere he goes. No one wants him unless they get him at a bargain price. The only teams he would make sense on are teams like the Buck’s, Celtic’s, Sun’s and Nuggets that might win it without him. You can’t depend on him to stick around or even give full effort. I was willing to give him a pass for wanting out of a team that depended on Kyrie Irving during the pandemic. But I have lost track of how many teams he has pulled this stunt on. He is now as bad as Kyrie. Kyrie could have stayed in Cleveland and he and LeBron could have won 3-5 rings together .That said if Harden had planted himself somewhere eventually other stars would have joined him there. He deserves to never win a title.
Bearing your comment in mind I wonder what all these people who were bad mouthing Sam Presti when he traded him years ago have to say about Sam Presti now? Could it actually be that Sam Presti began to notice a change in James Hardens thinking and personality once he began to produce the way he was producing for the Thunder in his early years? Maybe just maybe Sam Presti saw what we all failed to see in James Harden all those years ago..thus saving the Thunder a major headache later on..
The culture, or lack thereof, in OKC us abuuge reason why he this way. Look at all 3 of Durant, Westbrook and Harden. All kind of entitled and only one who won anything did it by joining one of the greatest teams ever.
Nope that was cap related and they just couldnt afford him with everyone else. Nobody knew any of this stuff then. Harden wanted to get paid and they didnt have him in their budget.
No he traded harden because harden wanted a bigger contract then they were offering. It’s been reported man try using google
The OKC situation was different. He was a 6th man with them. He was young and one he could perform at a higher level and that’s what he did with Houston. Became a perennial all star and got paid as such
You’ve lost track of how many teams he has “pulled this stunt on”? The dudes only played for four teams.
It is a figure of speech. That said this is the 4th team he has pulled this on. Why would any team waste valuable assets in order to obtain a 1 to 2 year rental player whose value is diminishing? Harden, Durant and Westbrook should have stayed together but The Thunder are cheap.
This couldn’t be happening to nicer guys! (sarcasm)
They deserve each other, give JH a max already
So if this dumb investigation takes place, they determine some handshake deal between Harden and the Sixers took place… why should the Sixers only be penalized? Harden should be suspended for a year without pay of the Sixers end up having to forfeit a draft pick.
Because it’s not illegal for him, it’s illegal for the team. Players don’t violate the salary cap, teams do. More to the point, the contract Harden signed does not itself violate the salary cap, and that makes it legal and binding.
But the more important point is that it’s in neither party’s interest to admit to a handshake deal, so there will be no evidence and the league will not have a leg to stand on. This isn’t like last year’s stupidity with Danuel House.
Can you remind me of the stupidity with DH or give me a link?
I think he’s referring to the pre-arranged deal they seemingly had with him prior to Harden signing his 2 year/$68 mil deal last summer.
Which also included Tucker, according to the article.
Harden actually comes away with a bit of leverage with this investigation. If he says the Sixers made promises, the team gets draft picks stripped. With their track record it wouldn’t take a lot of convincing.
@bowser- that’s very possible, but I doubt the investigation will help him get what he really wants, or was supposedly after..the trade to LA.
I wouldn’t doubt he could face some type of punishment as well, either a fine, suspension or both. Not exactly a win, considering he’s already crying poor for agreeing to a lesser deal last year, then opting in to the 2nd year of it 6 weeks ago.
Because he sacrificed money for the benefit of the team. HE didn’t violate any rules
The League must’ve found out that the Heat might be interested in Harden.
I don’t know who or what is right or wrong, as it pertains to nba/cba/salary “cap” rules or whatever…
So Harden (and probably his agent as well) had some sort of belief, whether implied or agreed to in some way, that he absolutely would be traded once he picked up his option.
That was pretty stupid on his part to assume Philly would trade him, guaranteed, no matter what the return was.
Now he’s apparently attempting to get Morey, and by default the entire Philly organization in trouble for failing to live up to what appears to be an illegal agreement by both parties, and escape any punishment for himself.
This is all gunna end up with GSW trading Cp3 and getting back Dame, isn’t it?
The league’s investigation is principally about whether Harden violated his contract with his comments. What happened last year may be investigated, again, based on what they learn, but regardless Harden could face a fine or suspension.
The odd thing is if Harden didn’t have a history of throwing tantrums, I’d say he has a legitimate gripe here IF there was a handshake agreement. Ideally they should investigate both parties, because one impacts the other. The entire mess in Philly is just a bunch of unlikable people fighting with each other though.
If Harden says there was a real handshake agreement (not some Morey BS), then the seriousness of this goes up exponentially. Odds of that having happened are low, where was the owner? Harden’s agent? But if that happened, then it’s much more a PHI (team) problem. Harden did lie previously to league investigators, and has to get some penalty, but for the team this is capital offense.
If Harden is just referring to Morey’s statements about accomodating Harden in a trade if he opts in, then that’s just a Harden problem. He made a public statement that he might dishonor is contract. Even this commissioner can’t tolerate that.
I don’t think James realises how his contract works…
If he is intent on not showing up he’s gonna have to pay off a lot of doctors after saying that publicly…
Or forfeit the remaining money he was owed…
Nah he’ll get paid regardless. He knows what he’s doing