It's finally over. All of the speculation of a timeline, droplets of new information leaking here and there and the collective exhaustion over another prolonged trade-request saga is done. The Philadelphia 76ers have traded James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers.
As of what we know right now, the Clippers are landing Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev while the Sixers get Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris, K.J. Martin and draft compensation that is still being ironed out in a three-team framework with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Sixers waived Danny Green to open up a roster spot needed to make the trade work.
The Sixers and Clippers have spent months hoping the other side would cave on a trade. A lot has happened since Harden opted into his player option and requested a trade.
Harden outright called Daryl Morey a liar. He showed up to training camp late before practicing with the Sixers during the preseason and then took a 10-day leave from the team right before the season. Terance Mann became known as a very hot commodity. Two championship hopefuls saw their futures become intertwined as they looked to make their teams true championship contenders. In the middle of the night three games into the 2023-24 season, they found common ground and struck a deal.
Here is how the Sixers and Clippers fared in the James Harden trade.
Clippers: A new Big 3 with James Harden
The Clippers have themselves a new star trio.
Any concerns of Harden loafing around should be dispelled (for the time being) now that he's finally with the Clippers, his hometown team that seems willing to throw him the big bucks he desires and can give him a shot at competing for a championship. The cycle of becoming discontent with his team has to stop at some point, right? This situation feels like the absolute best one for him to ride out the rest of his career.
Although Harden still has to get acclimated to the new season after sitting every preseason and regular-season Sixers game to this point, the potential is there for LA to dominate. He is the best playmaker that Paul George and Kawhi Leonard have had in their time together with the Clippers. The Beard can throw any pass in the book and is still capable of opening up passing lanes with the threat of his own scoring. He should still be good for 20 points and 10 assists a night.
Now that the cloud of drama around Harden's trade demand is clearing up, he can remind NBA fans how good he is on the court. If he had stayed healthy enough last season, he could have been an All-NBA Teamer. He led the league in assists and altered his three-point shooting to include more spot-up opportunities last season. There are legitimate injury concerns surrounding the 34-year-old but he's still got plenty left in the tank.
Tucker slides in as an ideal fifth starter next to the Clippers' star trio and Ivica Zubac. He's a tough-nosed, 3-and-D veteran who will shoot spot-up corner triples and defend whoever the team needs him to. Mann, once he heals from an ankle injury, will slide in as a bench piece along with Norman Powell and Bones Hyland — and seemingly Russell Westbrook.
Getting rid of so many veteran wings also gives rookie wing Kobe Brown a clearer path to more playing time. LA adds another rookie in Petrusev whose value as an NBA rotation player has yet to be shown. He'll most likely end up riding the bench behind Mason Plumlee. Martin is a solid youngster but overall, LA didn’t sacrifice an embarrassing amount of depth to add one of the better guards in the game.
The Clippers needed to take a swing with Leonard and George both having the option to hit free agency this summer. Losing them would be a crushing blow, especially before the move to Intuit Dome next season. Harden is far from perfect but still makes a good amount of sense. He has a burning desire to be there and fits well with the two bucket-getters on the wing who can also cover for him defensively.
Harden's age, injury history, expiring contract and playoff flameouts leave doubt that the Clippers can make this work. Betting on him to make a deep playoff run has proven time and time again to be a bust. But the Clippers are at the end of the line here. They're bound to be in for a long, painful rebuild with little draft ammo in the near future. The assets they traded probably weren’t getting them anyone better.
A swing for the fences — even an uncertain one — is the best thing for a team that’s already going all in.
Grade: A-
Sixers: Clarity and a blank slate
The start of the season couldn’t have gone much better for the Sixers on the court. Tyrese Maxey looks amazing and so does Joel Embiid. Their chemistry is taking off, head coach Nick Nurse has the team buying into his principles and the depth around them has been solid. Although head coach Nick Nurse and teammates spoke highly of Harden, they now don’t have to try bringing an iso-heavy player into a lineup whose iso tendencies are depleting.
Now, the Sixers have even more cap space for next summer and some new draft picks to play around with. Those assets — reportedly two first-rounders via the Clippers in 2026 (that comes layered in transferences) and 2028, two second-rounders in 2024 and 2029 and a pick swap — are the primary points of interest for Philly.
Of the four players that the Sixers received, it's likely that just two, at most, make a meaningful impact. Martin (more on him shortly) should be one. Morris, Batum and Covington each fit the 3-and-D mold but are all above 32 years old and past their primes. Covington is the most likely to work out, as he had started for LA this season. He's also excited to return to Philly, where he played for five seasons and earned an All-Defensive Team nod.
The Sixers will have to decide who to make the fifth starter now that Tucker is gone. Kelly Oubre Jr. makes the most sense until the new guys get incorporated. Once they do, Covington seems like the best bet. His ability to shoot from all over the perimeter and force turnovers could very well make him an upgrade over Tucker.
Starting the 22-year-old Martin to use him as a vertical spacer who can also make the occasional triple would be interesting, too. He has a great chance to be a mainstay with the Sixers for years to come, especially if he can get his three-point percentage back up. After shooting 36.0 percent from deep in his first two seasons, he shot just 31.5 percent last year. Almost a third of his shots are threes, a decent volume for a big, athletic wing.
The bigger question for the Sixers is what they’ll do with the assets they just got. They’re going to need another high-level player to compete in the playoffs. Is that guy Zach LaVine or DeMar DeRozan? Lauri Markkanen? Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby? Whoever it might be remains to be seen. The Harden trade isn’t the end of slop season for the Sixers; it's the dawn of a new one.
Once again, Morey has found a way to wriggle his way out of a jam pretty well. While this isn’t as much of a coup as landing James Harden for a disgruntled Ben Simmons (plus other assets), Philly didn’t surrender Harden for cheap. The picks they got are pretty solid and their depth didn’t take a hit. If anything, the Sixers' Harden-less lineup got deeper.
It was extremely difficult for the Sixers to escape this mucky ordeal somewhat cleanly. They did much better than anyone expected — and made the trade much sooner than everyone was anticipating after talks reportedly died down at the start of the season — but still only have a few okay players and picks far in the future to show for it.
Telling someone in early July that that's what the Sixers ended up getting for James Harden would be met with laughs and a belief that the front office folded. After everything that has happened since then, it looks like a haul. We have to adjust our expectations accordingly to what Philly gave up for an All-Star while also acknowledging that they still salvaged the situation to a respectable degree.
Grade: B
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