Woj: 76ers Hope to Trade James Harden to Clippers, Flip Return for All-Star Guard

Don't expect a James Harden trade anytime soon.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Thursday's NBA Today that Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey's "motivation is whatever he gets from the Clippers [in a potential trade], he wants to be able to flip that for another All-Star-level guard that he could replace James Harden with."

The issue is that most teams are more likely to trade a star player ahead of February's trade deadline, not right before the season begins, which could slow down talks between the Sixers and Clippers, as Woj noted:

"The asking price this time of year for the players you might like to get to replace James Harden is going to be really high. So there's not great motivation in Philadelphia to think that a deal with the Clippers now gets them the best value they can get, the best player who might be available later in the year. And that's why this may play out over time, especially if the Clippers are not going to up their offer and include a Terance Mann in the deal, who has been off the table in these talks so far. [And the Clippers are] saying, 'Listen, we're not giving you two future first-round picks for a player in James Harden who might just be a one-year rental for us.' But you're the Clippers and you go, 'We know we've made the best offer for James Harden. There's not a great James Harden market out there.' So that's why this thing may be slow going well into the season."

It isn't surprising that the end goal is another star to pair with Joel Embiid. The defending MVP is 29 and has a history of injuries—it's questionable how much longer his window as an elite player will remain open. Wasting a year of his prime is out of the question.

But the Sixers don't hold a ton of leverage in this situation.

As Woj noted, there isn't a robust market for Harden, a ball-dominant 34-year-old point guard who appears to have lost a step and who absolutely disappeared in a Game 7 loss against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals (nine points and seven assists in 41 minutes on 3-of-11 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 shooting from three).

Yes, Harden also dropped 45 points in Game 1 of that series and 42 points in Game 4, helping the Sixers steal two wins. He wasn't a no-show in the series overall.

Still, the Sixers presumably had enough questions about how he would age to not offer him the max deal he was expecting, which began the series of events this summer that led us here. If they have those questions, other teams—including a Clippers team that has wisely not bid against itself to this point—surely do as well.

And so the waiting game continues. The Sixers have to maximize the value they can get from a Harden deal to have the assets needed to get Embiid a star sidekick. The Clippers have little incentive to offer their best package if no other teams are in the running for Harden.

Harden has made things uncomfortable in these situations before, forcing his way out of Houston and Brooklyn in the past. But Morey also waited out the Ben Simmons situation for months, eventually flipping him for Harden.

Nobody in this situation seems likely to blink, at least not yet. Around and around we go.