James Harden Trade Rumors: Heat Expected to Pursue 76ers Star Amid Clippers Buzz
James Harden may be a member of the Miami Heat next season.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium discussed the Harden situation during an appearance on The Rally and listed the Heat and Los Angeles Clippers as teams that "are expected to emerge" as suitors for the guard:
Charania explained Harden opted into his $35.6 million option for next season and will now work with the Philadelphia 76ers to find a potential trade.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski listed the New York Knicks and Clippers as teams that are expected to "engage" with Philadelphia on trade talks. Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported Los Angeles has already been in contact with the 76ers regarding a potential move.
However, Mark Medina of Sportsnaut cautioned that "the Sixers will listen to trade proposals, but will only accept it if the offer is 'really good.' The Sixers are comfortable with keeping Harden, and they'll only accept deals that keep them in contention as opposed toward beginning a rebuild."
Philadelphia is in something of a difficult situation, as it still has the league MVP in Joel Embiid and figures to be among the Eastern Conference's best teams. Yet trading Harden for draft capital or younger players instead of win-now veterans would hurt that standing.
It also doesn't have a ton of leverage if it becomes all the clearer that Harden wants out.
Enter Miami, which could be one of the 76ers' biggest competitors in the East. It made three of the last four Eastern Conference Finals and two NBA Finals during that span but has been missing the star power alongside Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo to get over the top as champions.
Harden would provide some of that star power as a future Hall of Famer with a league MVP, three scoring titles, seven All-NBA selections and 10 All-Star nods on his resume.
While he is somewhat past his prime at 33 years old, he just led the NBA with 10.7 assists per game last season and is someone who could put Butler, Adebayo and others in ideal position to score.
And going from Philadelphia to Miami could help further shift the balance of power in the East.
