The Los Angeles Clippers are pursuing any and all avenues to improve their roster heading into the fifth season of the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era. Their latest trade target: Philadelphia Sixers guard James Harden.

It's been five days since James Harden officially requested a trade from the 76ers after opting in to the second year of his deal worth $35.6 million. The team Harden requested a trade to was the LA Clippers, per multiple reports. The idea of teaming up with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George back home in SoCal intrigued Harden, and so he made his desires clear.

Many around the league feel like it's just a matter of time until James Harden ends up with the Clippers in a trade. However, a new report from ESPN's Brian Windhorst suggests that not only are the Sixers in no rush to trade The Beard, but they may just keep him heading into the 2023-24 regular season.

“The Sixers are not afraid to let it be known that they don’t think necessarily it’s over with James Harden,” Windhorst said of James Harden. “That maybe everybody was just a little bit in their feelings and a little bit fired up about the state of the negotiations on Thursday and Harden very angrily picked up his option. That it may not be over.”

James Harden just finished up his 14th season in the NBA, and the Clippers will be his fourth team in four seasons. This past year with the Sixers, the former MVP and member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team averaged 21 points, 6.1 rebounds, 10.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game on 44.1 percent shooting from the field and 38.5 percent from three.

“The Sixers can say that they don't want to [trade him], that they're gonna try to run it back and we'll figure it out at the end,” Windhorst added. “It comes down to what Harden is going to do that.”

The Athletic reported that James Harden listed the LA Clippers as his preferred trade destination, but Daryl Morey is not inclined to meet Harden's trade demand just yet.

According to The Athletic's Sam Amick, however, James Harden will not be returning to the Sixers.

“Coming out the gate, I had been told that A., James wants to go to the Clippers. And then B.. When I essentially asked the question of is there a small percentage chance that you find a way to James to settle down a la Kevin Durant last summer and just get him back on the court at the start of the season, that door I was told was shut right away. The Sixers understand that's not happening.”

All of this just appears to be posturing on both the team side and the player side. In the end, James Harden will likely get his way and a trade out of Philadelphia, but there's no telling when that'll happen.