Clippers' Roster, Starting Lineup, Salary Cap After Rumored James Harden, 76ers Trade

Four months after requesting a trade to the Los Angeles Clippers, James Harden appears to have gotten his wish.

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Philadelphia 76ers are trading Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev to the Clippers for a package that includes Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, Kenyon Martin Jr., a protected 2026 first-round draft pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder, a 2028 unprotected first-round pick, two second-round picks, a 2029 pick swap.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium noted one of the first-round picks going to the Sixers will be the Oklahoma City Thunder's in 2026

The Clippers are actually taking on more money in this deal, as well. The trio of Harden, Tucker and Petrusev have a combined cap hit of $52.9 million in 2023-24.

The Sixers, on the other hand, are saving about $10.5 million with the cap hits for Morris ($17.1 million), Batum ($11.7 million), Covington ($11.7 million) and Martin ($1.9 million).

Los Angeles still ranks second in luxury tax payroll at $202.8 million, trailing only the Golden State Warriors ($207.2 million). The team is projected to have a $159.1 million tax bill for a total of $361.9 million in roster spending.

Clippers' Update Roster

PG: James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Bones Hyland

SG: Paul George, Terance Mann, Norman Powell, Brandon Boston Jr.

SF: Kawhi Leonard, Amir Coffey

PF: P.J. Tucker, Filip Petrusev, Kobe Brown

C: Ivica Zubac, Mason Plumlee

Projected starters in italics

The trade comes six days after Wojnarowski reported the Clippers were "stepping back" from talks for Harden because they wanted to see what the team looks like with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George healthy to start the regular season.

By that metric, the early returns have been very positive in Los Angeles. The team has won two of its first three games, including a 40-point victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

George is averaging 27.3 points on 54.9 percent shooting with 4.0 assists and 3.7 rebounds. Leonard has scored more than 20 points in each of his first three games and has made 12 of 19 attempts from behind the arc.

Even Russell Westbrook has been an efficient scorer thus far. The former NBA MVP is shooting 60.0 percent overall and 50.0 percent from three-point range. He's also leading the Clippers in assists (6.7) and tied for the team lead in rebounds (7.3) per game.

Adding Harden to the mix will seemingly make things better. He's not the same type of scorer he was at his peak, but had the second-highest three-point percentage (38.5) of his career last season.

It's unclear when Harden will make his first appearance for the Clippers. He went through a ramping up period last week and was set to practice on Tuesday with the 76ers.

Per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Harden is hoping to fly to Los Angeles as soon as possible and there's a chance he could be in attendance at Crypto.com Arena for the Clippers' game against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.

Amid the ongoing speculation about Harden's desire to be traded to the Clippers, Los Angeles was insistent Terance Mann would not be included in any offer.

This is certainly a win for Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank. He was able to add another All-Star-level player to the roster without giving up the promising role player.

There's always going to be a level of volatility with Harden, especially at this stage of his career and how quickly he can burn out in a new destination, but the upside is significant for a team that has had title aspirations when it's been able to keep Leonard and George healthy.