76ers' Roster, Starting Lineup, Salary Cap, NBA Draft Picks After James Harden Trade

The Philadelphia 76ers have turned the page on the James Harden era by reportedly trading the 10-time All-Star to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Sixers will acquire Marcus Morris Sr., Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, Kenyon Martin Jr., an unprotected 2028 first-round draft pick, a 2026 protected first-round pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder, a 2029 pick swap and two second-round draft picks from Los Angeles.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium noted the additional first-round pick going to the 76ers will be the Oklahoma City Thunder selection in 2026.

The Clippers will receive Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev from Philadelphia in the deal.

Wojnarowski added Danny Green will be waived by the 76ers to open a roster spot.

In addition to adding four future draft picks and a pick swap to their cache, the 76ers also saved about $10.5 million against the 2023-24 cap. Harden, Tucker and Petrusev have a combined $52.9 million cap hit for this season.

Morris, Covington, Batum and Martin combined will count $42.45 million against the salary cap. The Sixers are now only $6.1 million over the luxury tax threshold with an estimated tax bill of $9.4 million.

76ers' Updated Roster

PG: Tyrese Maxey, Patrick Beverley, Jaden Springer

SG: De'Anthony Melton, Furkan Kormaz

SF: Kelly Oubre Jr., Marcus Morris Sr., Danuel House Jr., KJ Martin

PF: Tobias Harris, Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum

C: Joel Embiid, Paul Reed, Mo Bamba

Projected starters in italics

Despite the recent talk that Harden was ramping up and getting ready to practice with the team on Tuesday, there was always an awkward feeling around the Sixers that he was still on the roster.

Harden made it awkward in August when he publicly called 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey a "liar" and said he "will never be a part of an organization that [Morey]'s a part of."

Even though Morey has been in the middle of uncomfortable situations before—the Ben Simmons situation dragged on for months before there was a resolution—but this was different because Harden specifically called him out.

The NBA did fine Harden $100,000 for those comments, though it didn't change the effectiveness of his public message.

Morey, to his credit, did hold true to his stated desire for the 76ers to either get back a star-level player who can help them win a title right now or a package that will allow them to acquire a star-level player to pair with Joel Embiid in the future.

This trade satisfies the latter because the Sixers now have two future first-round draft picks to trade, with the Clippers' unprotected selection in 2028 potentially very attractive, and the potential to have $55.7 million in cap space going into next season.

Tyrese Maxey's red-hot start to this season may have made it easier for Morey to move on from Harden. The 22-year-old is averaging 30.3 points on 50.0 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game through three starts.

This continues the ascent Maxey has been on over the course of his career. Even with some regression to be expected, it's not unreasonable to think Maxey can be an All-Star player with Embiid this season and going forward.

Addition by subtraction isn't always the best strategy, but the 76ers did a good job by getting rid of a player who didn't want to be with them any longer and added future assets that can play a significant role in making them better in the future.