James Harden has made himself clear: He’s not going to play for the Sixers this season. But this doesn’t seem like your typical trade request.

Harden exercised his $35.6 million player option in June, reportedly with the intention of working with the franchise to find a trade partner. But with training camps set to open in just seven weeks, Harden remains a Sixer. On Saturday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Philadelphia was ending trade talks. So yesterday in China, Harden strongly reiterated his desire to be sent elsewhere while also taking a shot at team president Daryl Morey.

“Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be 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 in the NBA.”

Finally, an answer to why Harden wants out of Philadelphia. While there had been reports about Harden and Morey’s strained relationship, there was never any indication that Harden’s desire to play elsewhere was motivated by anything other than basketball. But now we know it’s personal.

It’s very weird that an NBA player would come out publicly and call his boss a liar. Harden has a history of forcing his way off teams, but he’s never before taken aim at the guy running the team. He must have had a good reason to escalate things this way. Harden’s choice of words should set off alarm bells in the league office, Michael Rosenberg writes:

Maybe Morey promised Harden he would trade him and then didn’t. Or promised to try to trade him and didn’t try all that hard. Those would be legal lies.

But maybe, as has been widely speculated, Morey promised Harden he would offer a lucrative contract extension and then failed to offer it. If that’s the case, Morey violated Article XIII, Section 2 of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, which is titled “No Unauthorized Agreements.” It forbids “any agreements or transactions of any kind … express or implied, oral or written … concerning any future Renegotiation, Extension, or other amendment of an existing Player Contract, or entry into a new Player Contract.” It also prohibits “assurances of intent.”

There’s good reason to believe that Harden was referring to a promise from Morey about a future contract extension. Harden had a $47.4 million player option for the 2022–23 season, which he declined. He then signed a $33 million contract for that season, with a $35.6 million option for this upcoming season. If Harden declined his player option based on assurances from Morey that he’d be offered a larger contract than the one he ultimately signed, then he’d have every right to be angry—and Morey would be in big trouble with the NBA.

It’s impossible for us to know what Morey told Harden regarding his future, but the NBA needs to get to the bottom of why Harden felt comfortable calling Morey a liar. It might not be enough to get Harden the trade he’s been looking for, but it’s still worth a thorough investigation.

The best of Sports Illustrated

While you were sleeping, Spain advanced to the Women’s World Cup final with a thrilling win over Sweden. Andrew Gastelum recapped the game, which featured three goals in the final 10 minutes.
Conor Orr isn’t convinced that the Jets adding Dalvin Cook is a smart move. Despite the talent he brings, this Jets team is starting to look like the attempted 2011 superteam that crashed and burned.
Michael Fabiano put 38 quarterbacks into eight fantasy draft tiers. A pair of third-year QBs made the leap into Tier 2.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic have launched an investigation into Rays shortstop Wander Franco’s alleged relationship with a minor.
Former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher alleges that his supposed adoption by a white family, the subject of The Blind Side, was a sham.
Former NFL running back Alex Collins died in a motorcycle crash. He was 28.
Former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria says Derek Jeter “destroyed the ballpark” when he had the team’s home run sculpture removed.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Giants announcer Dave Flemming serving as the team’s batboy as punishment for losing his fantasy football league.

4. Yu Darvish’s strikeout of Ramón Urías to become MLB’s all-time strikeout leader among Japanese pitchers. Hideo Nomo, the man he passed, was in attendance.

3. Max Scherzer’s annoyed reaction to earning a strikeout via a pitch clock violation.

2. Bobby Witt Jr.’s slide into home on his inside-the-park homer.

1. This catch by the Savannah Bananas’ center fielder while doing a backflip.

SIQ

On this day in 2011, Jim Thome hit his 600th career home run against the Tigers. The pitcher who gave up the milestone homer was the son of which athlete who won a championship in another sport?

Mark Schlereth
Mike Modano
Robert Parish
Keenan McCardell

Yesterday’s SIQ: The U.S. beat Canada in the inaugural Olympic men’s basketball gold medal game Aug. 14, 1936. It was a slog of a game that finished 19–8 and was played on what surface?

Dirt
Asphalt
Clay
Grass

Answer: Clay. The game was played outdoors on a rainy day, and the playing surface quickly turned to mud. It was the only time the Olympic basketball tournament was conducted outside.

“It rained hard for 24 hours before the final, and when the weather didn’t change the next day, we figured the Germans would surely postpone things,” Bill Wheatley, a member of the winning U.S. team, said, according to Olympics.com. “By now that dirt court was so muddy and slippery that nobody could run much or dribble a ball on it! But the Germans just wanted to get it over with, so we played two 20-minute halves in front of 500 umbrellas that I think had people under them!”

Wheatley further explained that the ball was nearly impossible to dribble even on days when it hadn’t rained due to its irregular shape and the soft clay surface. As a result, the games were all incredibly low-scoring—even by pre–shot clock standards. Only two teams scored more than 40 points in a game (out of 13 games).

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