Report: NBA Board of Governors Approves March 25 Trade Deadline for 2020-21

The NBA's Board of Governors approved a March 25 trade deadline on Thursday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

That will be roughly three months after the regular season tips off Dec. 22 and will fall three weeks beyond the halfway mark of the campaign. The NBA outlined March 4 as the final day of the first half, with the All-Star break extending to March 10.

The trade deadline usually expires during the first week of February, but with the major changes the COVID-19 pandemic has created in the NBA calendar, the date was pushed back.

Coaches and general managers will have a few extra weeks to see how their teams operate and where reinforcements are needed. The All-Star break could be a great opportunity to sit down at the negotiating table since there may not be much else going on after the NBA announced it would not hold All-Star festivities this season.

Nobody could benefit from this more than the Houston Rockets as they continue surveying the landscape for James Harden.

The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the most logical spots since they're contending for an NBA championship and have an All-NBA talent in Ben Simmons who would give the Rockets a young ready-made star around which to build their franchise.

However, The Athletic's Sam Amick reported that the Sixers "want to see what new coach Doc Rivers can do with this new roster and have no urgency to pay anything more than a discount-aisle price for Harden anytime soon."

Should Philadelphia struggle out of the gate, perhaps president of basketball operations Daryl Morey would soften that stance. Conversely, a strong showing early on from the Sixers could be bad news for Houston's hopes of moving on Harden.

Amick also spoke to an anonymous front-office executive who raised concerns that Harden "can negatively affect a team's culture," which offsets his contributions on the court.

It seems pretty clear the eight-time All-Star wants out, but a trade doesn't appear to be materializing. His quickest way to guarantee an exit might be to put his head down and play out of his mind to entice somebody to meet the Rockets' asking price before March 25.