PHILADELPHIA — Let’s start by stating the obvious. In every man’s life, there comes a point where he needs to ask himself if he really is who he thinks he is. Turn on the lights, look in the mirror, put on some Taylor Swift.
Hey.
Is it me?
Am I the problem?
For James Harden, the good news is that the conversation is a lot easier when you already have $300 million in the bank.
For the Sixers, the good news is that they won’t be the ones adding to that total.
For everyone else, there is no good news or bad news, just NBA news, the kind that wallops you in the face like an errant Pike Place walleye. Does it hurt? Does it feel good? Is there any difference between the two? Just give me a second.
There are lots of questions to talk through, and we’ll (eventually) do our best in the time and space allotted. Whatever your opinion on the end of Harden’s tenure with the Sixers, it wasn’t supposed to end like this. Harden was supposed to opt out of the final year of his contract in order to sign a new deal, either with the Sixers or someone else. This was as procedural as it gets. It was the life-lesson talk after the last 90s' sitcom commercial break. Danny Tanner imparts a life lesson. James Harden opts out.
Except, no. Turns out, this is one of those awful to-be-continued episodes. Harden opted in. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the star guard will exercise the $35.6 million option on his contract and work with the Sixers to facilitate a trade. The Knicks and Clippers have emerged as potential suitors. Stay tuned for scenes from next week’s powerful new episode.
What does it all mean? Who knows. In the NBA, the only people who do are the agent and the player and the front office and whatever teams they are all pretending not to talk to behind the scenes. The phrasing is great. The Clippers and Knicks have emerged as suitors. In the NBA, nobody simply emerges.
That’s how it works in a league where the stars have the power. There aren’t a lot of industries where an employee can spend three years showing up to work dressed like Cookie Monster while quasi-openly trying to find a better gig elsewhere and still have enough bargaining power to demand a trade with a straight face. Harden acts like he does because the act doesn’t wear thin. It can’t wear thin. The Rockets, the Nets, the Sixers — all were better off with him than they would have been without him. One of them is stuck in a perpetual rebuild, another is stuck as a perpetual eight seed, the third is now scrambling 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage as time is running out.
At least we can say for sure that Harden did not want to be here. This wasn’t about money. This wasn’t about Doc Rivers. It was about a guy who did not enjoy life or basketball in Philadelphia and spent most of his time here with one foot out the door.
It was also about a guy who, deep down inside, knows he may end up kicking himself for the way he let it all go down again. There’s a good chance that Harden will look back and realize that he needed the Sixers as much as they needed him. They were always the one team that had the thing that he needed most: a defensive force at center who also drew the sort of attention that he could exploit in the half-court offense. This was true when Harden was at his physical peak. It is doubly true now.
You can’t blame Harden for feeling like Embiid was an imperfect co-star, an imperfect teammate. You can’t blame him for wondering if the formula would work. Harden is as smart, as talented, as intuitive as basketball players come. Of all of the weird unsourced reports that have emerged since that first one hit the wire on Christmas Day, the one that rang truest was the one that said Harden was in search of “basketball freedom.” It’s hard to have that when you are sharing a court with a player like Embiid. It’s a natural thing to want.
Thing is, Harden is no longer a player who warrants “basketball freedom.” He is an elite point guard who can penetrate a defense and pass to any angle on the court and knock down a 3-pointer. Occasionally, he can summon a singular scoring performance. He can be a great facilitator on a great team. That’s what his body will allow him to be. That’s who he is.
But ... Harden thinks he is more than that.
That’s what all the signs point to. In hindsight, the deed may have been done on Christmas Day, when the first report emerged of Harden’s interest in returning to Houston. Or maybe it was six months later, after the Sixers swept the Nets to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, when Harden decided the real story was all that he’d sacrificed.
“Sacrifice is a word that I’m going to continue to use for this year,” Harden said, “and see what it gets me.”
It will get him wherever he wants to go next. The Clippers would make some sense. The Knicks would make none. Don’t be surprised if all of this is just a big act that ends with a trade back to the Rockets.
For the Sixers, it wouldn’t be the worst outcome. The most curious part of all of this is Harden opting in and allowing the Sixers to recoup something for their troubles. If he’d walked as a free agent, they would essentially have been left with $35 million less to spend. Now, they can at least exchange him for $35 million worth of contracts and maximize their potential payroll. If that doesn’t make sense, don’t worry. It’s what makes the NBA great.
Long story short, they at least have the ability to roll Harden’s cap dollars into something new. That was always the ideal scenario if he truly wanted “basketball freedom.”
A year ago, the Sixers could sell themselves on giving him that freedom. They could sell themselves on the unknown. The “ifs” that were worth exploring.
If Harden could shake the hamstring injury that had sapped him of his core strength ...
If he could rediscover the step-back jumper, and the lateral quickness ...
If Tyrese Maxey could take another step forward ...
If Embiid could grow his game by another 10% ...
If the Sixers could surround their stars with a proper supporting cast instead of a bench that had been hollowed by the Harden trade ...
Funny how it worked out. All of those things happened. But the fact that they did is the primary reason to wonder how much is too much to pay going forward.
What now? That’s the question that the Sixers must consider. It’s the question Harden must consider when he thinks about what’s fair.
The Sixers ended up with as good of a shot as anybody could have expected. Harden showed up healthy, engaged, in shape. He boosted his 3-point percentage, led the league in assists per game, averaged 37 minutes per night. He single-handedly led them to two of their three wins in the conference semifinals. There aren’t a lot of guys who can drop 40 in a playoff game let alone do it twice in a series.
Likewise, Embiid and Maxey were as good as they could have hoped. One was named the league’s MVP. The other played himself into the conversation for a max-level contract extension. For the second time in franchise history and the first time since 1983-84, the Sixers finished the regular season with three starters averaging 20-plus points. They found the complementary pieces they thought they needed in P.J. Tucker and D’Anthony Melton.
And they came up short.
Both sides had reason to wonder if the formula would work. This might end up being mutual self-destruction. At least, for the Sixers, there is the prospect of something new.
