Talk of a possible trade for Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden appears to be faltering, with the latest reports claiming it was the Los Angeles Clippers who put an end to any move by ending their interest in the 34-year-old.
Harden made it clear he wanted to leave the Wells Fargo Center franchise earlier in the year, doing so in a very public manner that earned him a large fine from the NBA, but at present, it seems the 10-time NBA All-Star pick is going nowhere.
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Harden wanted a move to join the Clippers, but ESPN’s Brian Windhorst claims that the reason the deal didn’t happen was not down to Philadelphia standing in his way but more a case of Los Angeles cooling their interest;
“(The Clippers) tried to trade for James Harden, and that deal didn’t happen, and from what I understand, it was the Clippers who said, ‘Okay, there’s no deal here. We’re gonna move on.’ And while I assume that they could certainly make a deal midseason, I assume that this is what they’re gonna go with.”
Harden kicked up a stink when he didn’t get the move he wanted, stating his position on a marketing tour of China in no uncertain terms;
“Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,”
“Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden claimed.
Those comments earned Harden a $100k fine from the NBA, and now the Philadelphia 76ers need to pick up the pieces.
In other news, Nick Nurse has discussed new NBA rules in relation to resting star players; “I think that we are looking at it maybe a little different than people think we might be,”
“We’re trying to get [Embiid] to play more games. Our goal is that it’s going up for him, not the other direction, and some people would say, ‘Oh, that’s playoffs. Is he going to be?’
We’re just trying to get it going the other direction.”
“I think that’s just what our people believe here, that he can play and again, knock on wood, cross our fingers, all that stuff,”
“There’s always things that can come up with that stuff, but I don’t know. I believe in the guys playing as much as they can and let’s see what happens.”
The new rules relate to resting more than one star player at once, particularly for matches that are televised nationwide, which would lead to heavy fines for teams who were to do so.
Embiid has had issues with injuries and is obviously a star player at Philadelphia, so these rules may indeed be something of an issue.
