Evan Chen (9) | STAFF REPORTER
On the dawn of Halloween, while most people were sleeping, many NBA insiders on X (formally Twitter) reported that James Harden was on the move again.
The official trade was announced by 76ers’ President Daryl Morey on Wednesday afternoon. The former MVP and 10x NBA All Star was traded from the Philadelphia 76ers along with forward PJ Tucker and center Filip Petrusev. In exchange, the 76ers received a big package from the LA Clippers. The Clippers shipped out veteran forwards Nic Batum, Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, and young wing KJ Martin. The Sixers also received two first round picks, in year 2027 and 2028, as well as getting two second round picks plus a first round pick swap.
This trade makes the Clippers a huge favourite to win it all in the West, with Kawhi, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and Harden now in the mix. However, there is a big concern with this LA team because after this season, both Kawhi and George have a player option, meaning they can either choose to stay for an extra year or leave, while Harden will be a free agent.
The 76ers did pretty well in this deal considering the situation with Harden. Harden has now been on 4 teams since 2021, forcing a trade out of 3 teams, with the fourth team being his current team. Before this trade, Harden had called out the Sixers’ President Daryl Morey for being a liar, and stated that he would never play again for him. Harden then showed up late to training camp, didn’t play or travel with the team, and was then traded.
