With their season tipping off on Wednesday night, the Clippers have decided to pause their pursuit of Sixers guard James Harden, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on NBA Countdown (Twitter video link).
“I’m told that with the start of the season now, at least for the foreseeable future, the Clippers are stepping back from these trade talks about James Harden — they are essentially pausing them,” Wojnarowski said.
“They have talked with Philadelphia for months about a trade,” Woj continued. “They’ve made their best offer for Harden, and they are now gonna start their season and see what this team looks like with a healthy Kawhi Leonard, a healthy Paul George.
“Now, the Clippers may revisit this at some point. But they know they’re the only bidder for James Harden. They’re the only team that’s made a serious offer. They don’t want to bid against themselves. … I think the Sixers have to wonder, ‘Have we already gotten the best offer we’re gonna get for James Harden?’ Especially as the games start to peel off the calendar. And if you’re the Clippers, why offer more when there are fewer and fewer games that James Harden can play for you?”
Harden, who asked the Sixers to trade him to L.A in June when he picked up his $35.64MM player option for the 2023/24 season, has expressed frustration with the slow pace of the negotiations multiple times in the months since then.
Back in August, he referred to Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey as a “liar” during a promotional event, later explaining to the NBA when the league investigated those comments that the club hadn’t delivered on its assurances that it would trade him “quickly.”
The former league MVP and reigning assists per game leader skipped media day and the first day of training camp before reporting to the 76ers this fall. After spending nearly two weeks away from the team, he departed last Sunday without an excused absence. However, Philadelphia later said Harden was away due to a personal matter, and there has been no indication that the club fined him for missing practices or its final preseason game.
As Wojnarowski reported this morning, Harden has returned to Philadelphia and is back with the Sixers. Various reports indicated that the 34-year-old will need to ramp up his activity before making his season debut, however, which is why he’ll be absent for Thursday’s season opener in Milwaukee.
Sam Amick of The Athletic reported last week that the Clippers have offered two protected first-round picks for Harden, but the Sixers want Terance Mann, an unprotected first-rounder and a first-round pick swap, and the Clippers have no interest in trading Mann.
According to Wojnarowski, it seems Harden’s standoff with the Sixers will continue into the season.
They’ve been “paused” since they decided they didn’t want to offer anything of value.
Pretty much. Can’t blame them, it doesn’t seem like there is any other teams trying to land/steal Harden at the minute. The sixers FO seems to be the only ones who find James valuable and he refuses to play here lol.
I love how the media have the memories of a goldfish. Remember with Simmons how many times they said Morey wouldn’t get anything more? How did that end up? Where was the CJ McCollum for Simmons trade everyone said was the best they could do?
The Clippers actually need Harden. Look at their starting five:
Westbrook
Leonard
George
Mann
Zubac
That starting five would be great in 1999 or 2004. In a league where you actually need spacing and shooting it isn’t good. Your best shooter from range there is George with Mann as a good not great 3 point shooter. Leonard will have trouble in the mid range when it matters if they can’t give him room to operate.
So you’re saying Harden will spearhead the potential Clippers youth movement?
Well that’s the downside. Clearly they can’t afford to give up Mann. After all at 27 he is so young practically a rookie on the team.
People are forgetting the Clippers were among the best in the West until Leonard and George went down in Playoffs. When healthy among best duo’s in the league. Zubac/Plumlee is a nice old school rotation at the 5 spot.
Clippers are better than both the Lakers and Golden State.
Harden adds nothing except fewer shots for Leonard and PG.
Clippers better than the Lakers is a hilarious comment. The Lakers were better than the clippers last year, and they Lakers at the very least got slightly better and the clippers pretty much stayed the same.
I think you forget how that happened. Cause harden pulled his stuff in moreys favor to get to philly. Now he has James toying with him. He may get a decent deal. I think franchises overall are tired hardens antics and Morey’s antics. Together it should be fun to watch it burn.
I agree they do need Harden but the Clippers have plenty of shooting. George and Mann are both good from deep and Leonard himself is an elite three point shooter. He shot .416 last season and .398 during the 2020-21 season which is last season he played prior.
Off the Bench they have RoCo, Powell and Hyland if the matchup dictates they need more spacing.
Harden would take pressure off George and Leonard as playmakers and in the event a combination of 1 of the 3 go down they would be more likely to have at least 2 star players on the court.
Are we really out here calling James Harden a spotup threat? The Clippers need a super role player like Mann willing to do the Bruce Brown thing, not a shot creator who can’t play off-ball.
Mann of course was 39% on threes last year and is 38% for his career.
Mann is a better 3 pt shooter than Harden, look it up
Only takes 1 injury and the market for Harden Heats up. IF Harden stays healthy, hell get dealt eventually.
What consitutes a pause when dealing with Morey?
Anyway, LAC should hold off trading any future assets until at least the trade deadline. If PG13 or KL look like they might stay healthy for once, then there will almost certainly be better players than Harden available. If not, then there is no reason to make a deal.
Somebody usually shakes loose but there aren’t that many players in the league better than Harden let alone players the Clippers can actually acquire with their meager trade assets.
In 2k perhaps. In the NBA, though, there are a lot of players better (or at least have more trade value) than Harden in his current state (even with relatively positive assumptions about his ability to stem his continuing decline). Particularly if the standard is the guy’s likely immediate and future contributions to winning basketball, which it is for me at least.
Tell me another player who averaged a double double and led the league in assists ? And what is his current state. He’s on a expiring contract, currently working out in Philly getting ready to join his team.
Harden’s brand of basketball is impressive but a lot of people around the NBA have wised up and realized it doesn’t win championships.
That’s the past, and (as I acknowledged) I’m sure those numbers are reflected in his 2k rating. Although his defense should be a part of that rating as well. His current state is that he’s physically so out of shape that he can’t play, and mentally so self-absorbed that he doesn’t care.
Name me those players that will be available that could single handedly beat Boston in 2 games in one playoff series? He did help them lose some no doubt as well. Harden is a pain in the ass but acting like he’s not a top 30 player in the league and top 5-6 pg is a flat lie. We’ll see what happens here.
Who ? Brogdon? Lol.
Who cares, besides Harden and Morey?
I can’t wait for Harden to retire.
This is one of those stand offs where I agree with everyone’s approach and perspective but don’t see any winners here.
Like the clippers are smart no not give up multiple picks and starting player they value for a guy who’s on an expiring deal, expensive and proven to be abit of a pain at times, they already have to deal with PG and Kawhi both potentially hitting FA, they don’t need Harden drama on top of that. Not to mention it’s not like anyone else is bidding against them or Harden has much of a market so why not offer low and say take it or leave it we can wait and see, end of the day it’s your problem.This teams already low on picks aswell.
The Sixers, I can understand your not giving away Harden for chump change. He’s a former MVP, multiple time all star and all nba player. Just last year he lead the league in assists and helped Joel win MVP. If the clippers only want to give up role players on expiring deals and 1 or 2 protected picks it’s obviously a bad deal.
As for Harden, he thought he was taking a pay cut in the short term to make the team better then eventually get the extension he deserves. However that didn’t happen now he wants out and he believes what the clippers are offering is fair enough. In fairness he’s turned yo a couple times to show face and then gone. He hasn’t caused to many problems he just refuses to play for Daryl Morey who promised him money.
End of the day, clippers won’t budge unless the lose a bunch of games and feel the desperation to improve. Sixers won’t budge unless Harden causes to much issues even then who knows. Then lastly Harden, he just has to stick it out for a season and then he’s gone and Sixers get nothing so he’s in no rush to perform for them.
Don’t see what the outcome will be but I don’t see any winners right now
Why does everyone seem to think the Clips need Harden? Westbrook is a much better fit for this current Clippers team as they just a guy to get up the court and get the ball to PG or Kawhi. If one or both of those guys go down, Harden wouldn’t keep them afloat anyway. Also add in that Harden has proven to be a team cancer for multiple franchises and I think there’s no need for them to make a move for him at any point during the season.
No they arnt. Harder is staying home, trade is getting closer.
Morey needs to swallow his pride and get whatever he can for Harden as he holds no value on the team and is a total cancer. Any trade is addition by subtraction and the Sixers seem to be playing well without him. Time to move forward.