There are days when it seems like the Sixers and Clippers are getting close to making a trade, and James Harden still wants one. On other days, it appears as though one will never occur.
Last week, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that the Sixers and Clippers have spoken “in recent days” but that the teams still had a “sizable gap” between them in terms of the price to acquire the former league MVP.
That update was certainly disheartening for fans who are still hoping for a Harden deal to finally come to fruition. And for those of you perhaps clinging to the hope Harden just gets over his beef with Daryl Morey and perhaps balls out enough to turn the Sixers into title contenders, well, maybe it’s not so bad?
I argued that the Clippers should just face their lives here and pony up for the Beard.
They’re probably only short one more first-rounder or backup wing guard from meeting Morey’s (my guess would be reasonable) asking price. This isn’t like the “give us Wiggins and twelve picks” days fans joke about when Morey is seeking a big trade.
The Clippers already went all in to assemble Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and they’ve thus far come up well short of their ultimate goals, having won a mere three playoff series in four seasons. What if they’d only had Ty Lue instead of Doc Rivers at the helm in the bubble?
But c’mon, they (should) know they’re simply not good enough to win big as currently constructed. And it seems like their front office is getting cold feet essentially exchanging a 27-year old, career 8-points-per-game bench guard in Terance Mann (or a second first-round pick that they might be able to add protections to anyway) for Harden?
Sure, he’s not the same player he once was in Houston but he was one phone call away from making his 11th All-Star team, and the reigning assist king represents a pretty massive upgrade in the playmaking and creation departments over names like Russell Westbrook.
Can you imagine if two picks, a swap and a bunch of bad-to-average expiring contracts (all while keeping Mann) could get this done, and the Clippers simply balked? Their two stars are both on expiring contracts. They could soon be facing a lengthy rebuild with only a couple of future assets (that may not even have much value, league-wide) to work with. That would be simply brutal for L.A.’s “other team” after landing so much talent back in 2019.
If I were PG (33) or Kawhi (32) I’d weigh that type of front-office decision — potentially valuing the distant future over my current prime — heavily while thinking about my next contract or team. Bro, you really think those picks are worth missing out on the chance to maybe buy low on James Harden?
Now, if you asked Daryl Morey, he might simply argue the Clippers never wanted Harden at all based on reported offers.
But if the Clippers were recently offering a first-round pick and a swap, surely they’ll eventually be tempted to offer either Mann or that darn second first-round pick at some point in time? If the ‘deal zone’ is the 10-yard line, might the Sixers and Clippers have at least made it near the 30? Are the Clippers really pulling out or is it a negotiating ploy? That may simply depend on how they begin the season.
It’s intriguing that he mentioned L.A. preferring Harden to Malcolm Brogdon (really, why wouldn’t they?), a player that many believe is available for trade after landing in Portland from Boston. That seems to imply maybe the Clippers actually are/were more interested than their public negotiating stance would have implied.
