If recent comments by James Harden are accurate, the 76ers either believed they were going to receive a king’s ransom in a potential trade for the guard or took their sweet time finding the right deal. Regardless, Harden, who ultimately got his wish to be traded to the Clippers granted, had some choice words for his former team.
Harden addressed his decision to opt into his player’s option for the 2023–24 season with Philadelphia during an interview with The Athletic’s Sam Amick, admitting that the free-agency market likely would have left him “looking Philly in the face again.” And when the NBA insider asked about playing the waiting game on a potential trade, Harden said the 76ers told him a trade would happen within 10 days.
“No, I wasn’t sweating. It was just patience, because the day that I opted in, there was a conversation and communication [with the Sixers] about it being a 10-day process. This was gonna happen within 10 days, and then it got dragged out for 4 1/2 months or however long it was,” Harden told Amick.
