There are times when I can’t help but wonder what is going through an NBA superstar’s mind. Now, as reports swirl that James Harden wants to be dealt to the Clippers, is one of those times.
A 10-time All-Star and the winner of last season’s league assist crown on a per-game basis, Harden still possesses game-changing ability. He showcased that not only in a Game 1 victory over the Celtics in which he scored 45 points and logged six assists despite not having MVP Joel Embiid, but also when he went off again three contests later with 42 points, nine assists, eight boards and a cold-blooded, game-winning triple in the final minute. Harden, Embiid and the Sixers faltered badly in Game 7 of that series, getting bounced in the second round yet again. But they showed enough firepower to suggest there’s potential to accomplish more, particularly with a new coach in Nick Nurse, who won the title in 2019 with the Raptors.
Yet Harden appears to be making his way to his third new team in just three years after being the man in Houston for eight consecutive seasons.
We can get into the why of it all. Sure, Los Angeles would represent a homecoming for Harden, who grew up there. And the situation would theoretically give him even more star power to pair with, in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. There’s championship potential there, even if you have to squint hard to see it.
But there’s an obvious caveat there: The Clippers, preseason title favorites last season for so many of us, haven’t been able to rely on the health of their two star wing talents. Even with the team’s unbelievable depth, not having the one-two punch we all once imagined left late-season addition Russell Westbrook trying to do much of the offensive damage himself. And now with the new CBA taking direct aim at high-spending organizations like the Clippers, the climb to a title will get only steeper for this injury-prone group of talent. Adding an aging Harden to this group certainly could help, but only if other parts of the remaining core get and stay healthy.
This is why it’s a bit surprising that Harden would even entertain such a move, given his time in Brooklyn. When he pushed for a trade there, he said repeatedly that he liked the idea of not having to carry the weight of a franchise on his back. That he wanted to be one of the leaders, but not the leader, essentially. But things changed incredibly quickly after Kevin Durant went down with an injury because Kyrie Irving was sidelined due to his choice to stay unvaccinated. (New York City had a mandate barring players from performing until they were, and the Nets initially said they wouldn’t allow Irving to be a part-time player who played only on the road.) As such, Harden became the go-to guy again, which was what he’d wanted to avoid by signing on to play with Durant and Irving. And over time, he stunned the league by asking out of the situation.
Philadelphia, in theory, should be a near-perfect spot for Harden. He plays next to a superstar in Embiid, a dominant post player who’s in his prime and just won his first MVP. Twenty-two-year-old guard Tyrese Maxey is more than capable, too, having just averaged 20 points in his third season. The Sixers’ roster isn’t perfect, but it’s among the more talented ones in the league.
Harden seemed to understand that last summer, when he chose to opt out of the final year of his contract with the Sixers. At the time, he and other reporters deemed it a “pay cut” designed to give Philadelphia more resources to bolster the rest of the roster.
Yet the reality always was this: Harden almost certainly agreed to that deal expecting the Sixers would make up for what he didn’t take last summer by handing him a long-term deal this summer. It appeared that Harden would have the leverage to command such a pact—rumors swirled for months that the Rockets, his former team, wanted him back at huge money—but once Harden-to-Houston talk dried up, hope of scoring a big offer with Philly might have, too.
And if that is the way things played out, it might explain why Harden opted in to the final year of his contract, despite having no interest in returning to the Sixers: He has no interest in testing a shallow free-agent market, with few contenders, that seems to have cooled on him for the time being. No one wants to lock Harden up to a long-term deal when his intent and desires—aside from merely getting paid—shift so quickly, particularly now, in this new CBA landscape.
That’s why it’d be interesting to hear Harden explain his mindset now. If he wants to win right now—with a healthy, MVP-level costar and a solid roster—Philadelphia is almost certainly a better option for him still, no matter how humbling the lack of a long-term contract might be.
