NBA Rumors: 76ers' James Harden Trade Demands Seen as 'Unreasonable' by Rival Teams

Executives around the NBA view the Philadelphia 76ers' asking price for James Harden as "unreasonable," according to PhillyVoice's Kyle Neubeck.

Neubeck outlined how Philadelphia is approaching negotiations centered around the star guard:

"They view their path to a Harden trade to accomplish one of two things—they want to get back a package that allows them to stay in the same tier of contention, sources say, or to make a trade that returns enough assets back to flip for another high-level player. While there has been a lot of speculation that the Sixers could try to spin a Harden trade into a multi-team deal to chase a star, there does seem to be some pushback on the idea that they could execute that style of asset-flipping trade simultaneously with a Harden deal. The Sixers would prefer to be able to make or keep the team as competitive as possible as soon as possible, but they believe that requires getting an All-Star-level return for Harden in the event that they trade him."

Appearing on NBA Today last week, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski compared this situation to the prolonged standoff between the Sixers and Ben Simmons. He reported Philly has placed an "exorbitant" value on Harden and that "teams are not engaging the Sixers with the kind of asks that Daryl Morey is asking for James Harden."

Wojnarowski added that Morey has in the past drawn a firm line at the bargaining table early on before lowering his demands over time. Also, in the case of Simmons, Morey's diligence paid off because the 6'10" playmaker was the headliner in the trade package for Harden.

The trouble for the Sixers' front office this time around is that it's difficult envisioning Harden's trade value increasing much or a Hail Mary solution emerging.

The 33-year-old's decision to opt in to his $35.6 million salary partially reflected how his market in free agency was lukewarm at best. As one telling example, the Houston Rockets, who had been linked with the 10-time All-Star, decided to pursue and sign Fred VanVleet instead.

Morey is stuck between a rock and a hard place because trading Harden at what's perceived to be a loss is the most likely outcome, and it's one he can ill afford to see become a reality.

Embiid offered a telling response during an interview with Maverick Carter at the Uninterrupted Film Festival when discussing his desire to win a title.

"I just want to win a championship, whatever it takes," he said (via Neubeck). "I don't know where that's going to be, whether it's in Philly or anywhere else. I just want to have a chance to accomplish that, I want to see what that feels like to win that first one, and then you can think about the next one."

Having the reigning MVP even entertain a future outside of the Sixers is a shot across the bow. With that in mind, a Harden trade that ultimately makes Philadelphia a worse team may not be received well by Embiid.

One can understand Morey's position given everything at play, but he might only be prolonging the inevitable by refusing to budge from his initial ask.