PHILADELPHIA — After months of pursuit, James Harden is finally a member of the 76ers. The Sixers and Nets completed a trade Thursday that swapped two disgruntled stars, sending Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round draft picks to Brooklyn in exchange for Harden and Paul Millsap, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey confirmed.
The blockbuster move finally ends the Simmons saga and puts a jolt into the franchise for this season’s stretch run. The Sixers replacing the absent Simmons with Harden — who has racked up All-NBA honors, scoring titles and an MVP award over the past decade — immediately vaults the Sixers into the championship discussion.
Here’s a breakdown of what Harden will bring to the Sixers, and, in turn, what they lost in the trade.
A second superstar
Collecting elite talent has become the primary goal in an NBA era defined by superteams. And the Sixers now officially have their Big Two.
Harden’s addition pairs MVP contender Joel Embiid with one of this generation’s best scorers and a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. Harden possesses a lethal step-back three-pointer. He draws fouls in bunches by extending his arms on his drive to the basket. Dropping 30 points has become routine for Harden, much like it has for Embiid during his recent surge.
Though some might not like the aesthetics of Harden’s iso-heavy playing style, it’s impossible to deny its effectiveness during the past decade. Harden has made 10 consecutive All-Star teams since the trade that sent him from Oklahoma City to Houston in 2012, is a three-time scoring champ and was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2017-18. Since the 2015-16 season, he has averaged 30.1 points per game on 44.2% from the floor and 35.8% on nearly 10 3-point attempts per game, along with 8.9 assists and 6.8 rebounds per game.
There are questions, however, on if this season’s shooting-percentage dip (down from 47.1% last season to 41.4% in 44 games this season) is a product of Harden’s current role on the Nets or a more broad sign of decline. His 22.5 points per game so far this season are his lowest since his final season with the Thunder.
Harden has also struggled in multiple playoffs throughout his career and never made the Finals with the Rockets, though they nearly knocked off the eventual-champion Golden State Warriors in the 2018 Western Conference Finals.
Intriguing Embiid partner
On paper, Embiid and Harden give the Sixers the NBA’s best inside-outside duo. Yet talent is only part of the equation. It could take some time for the two stars to develop chemistry.
At his best in Houston, Harden was surrounded by outside shooters who launched from beyond the 3-point arc at a record pace, a rim-running center in Clint Capela and, for a period, a quintessential point guard in Chris Paul.
This will be different, given the Sixers’ current system is predicated on ball and body movement and anchored by Embiid’s inside presence. Embiid, however, is not a typical post-up big man. He can shoot off the dribble, facilitate and take 3-pointers. And he has played most of his career with Simmons, a non-shooting point guard who primarily pushed the pace, passed and played in the “dunker” spot on offense.
It will be particularly intriguing to watch how Harden and Embiid work as a pick-and-roll tandem. Embiid tends to pop instead of roll. And Harden is an underrated passer, averaging double-digit assists in each of the past two seasons.
Familiarity with leadership
The past connection between Harden and Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey being a primary reason for the team’s pursuit of Harden is well-documented. And that familiarity should help ease Harden’s midseason transition to the organization.
Harden is also close with Sixers minority owner Michael Rubin, CEO Tad Brown and Philly-native rapper Meek Mill. Rubin’s and Meek Mill’s nonprofit organization called REFORM Alliance, which aims to create change within the probation and parole systems, recently received a six-figure donation from Sixers owner Josh Harris.
Morey and Embiid have also done a good job of quickly establishing a rapport since Morey arrived in Philly before the 2020-21 season. Morey should know Embiid and Harden well enough by now to feel confident they can all work together on and off the court.
Potential drama?
This is the second time in approximately a calendar year that Harden has been traded — and both departures were messy.
At the end of his Rockets tenure, Harden did not report to training camp and was spotted partying in Las Vegas and Atlanta in a pre-vaccine COVID-19 world. He was also clearly disinterested on the court, prompting then-teammate DeMarcus Cousins to call Harden “disrespectful” before the trade to Brooklyn went down.
While with the Nets, Harden and his team have reportedly sent mixed messages publicly and through back channels. Nets coach Steve Nash said earlier this week that Harden wanted to be with their team and the Nets would not trade him before the deadline, while reports surfaced that he does not like living in Brooklyn and that Kyrie Irving being unable to play in home games because he is unvaccinated and various injuries including to Kevin Durant have created a workload level that he did not expect. The Inquirer reported that some in Brooklyn have questioned the validity of his recent hamstring injury, while more examples of Harden eliciting zero effort on defense and shoddy passing have piled up.
Optimists will say that, now that Harden is where he wants to be and on a team with legitimate title chances, he will no longer be moody. But it is reasonable to be concerned about how that could disrupt the Sixers’ chemistry with 28 regular-season games to play.
Sixers players and coaches did an excellent job of compartmentalizing the Simmons situation and not letting it affect their on- and off-court morale — or production. They have repeatedly said publicly that they enjoy playing together, thanks to a collection of personalities that are effusive and professional.
