ESPN Sources with @RamonaShelburne: The NBA has launched an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding 76ers star James Harden’s public admonishment of franchise’s President Daryl Morey: https://t.co/8CyXFmu4gx
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 19, 2023
A development in the weird James Harden situation going on in Philadelphia. The NBA is now investigating Harden’s public comments about team president Daryl Morey, after he called him a ‘liar’ and that he ‘would never play for an organization he is a part of again’ while at an Adidas camp in China.
According to Woj and Ramona Shelburne, the league wants to identify if Harden was alluding to a holdout, which would violate the CBA, or if there was an under the table handshake agreement between him and Morey about Harden’s contract in an attempt to circumvent the salary cap.
Harden has indicated that the comments are only related to the fact Morey called off trade discussions with the Clippers, the team Harden requested to be traded to.
If I put my detective hat on for a moment: I think it’s more than likely Harden had an agreement with the Sixers that he would be traded if he opted in to his contract. Let’s be honest, Harden wasn’t getting over $35.5 million annually from any team on the open market. So the plan was for him to opt-in and then get traded where he wants, and being that he and Morey have history, it should’ve went smoothly.
Morey listened to what the Clippers were offering and decided that it wasn’t a very good deal, and the negotiations went nowhere, so he pulled the plug.
That’s all just my speculation. Harden hasn’t gone into specifics, and the Sixers and Morey have remained pretty quiet. Let’s see if the league finds anything, and if Harden will even report to camp.
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