The Philadelphia 76ers and president of basketball operations Daryl Morey woke up to headlines involving their franchise on Monday morning, as 10-time All-Star James Harden did not hold back his true feelings regarding the organization.

“Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization he's a part of,” Harden stated while at an event overseas in China. “Let me say it again. Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he's a part of.”

These comments from Harden came days after reports surfaced suggesting the team was not going to give into his trade request this offseason.

The clock has now begun for the Sixers and Harden, as this is a problem that could run right up to the start of training camp. The star guard wants no part of Philadelphia anymore, as he made clear in his recent comments, but the organization has no desire to trade him unless they can receive a grand return for him, something that will not happen at this point in the offseason.

This puts everyone in an awkward spot in and it seems like Harden's main goal is to make the 76ers and Morey even more uncomfortable moving forward. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Harden is going to do everything he can to try and get a trade done, which may involve forcing the Sixers hand by making matters worse.

“The Sixers really have not had any real interest in trading James Harden,” Wojnarowski explained on ESPN's NBA Today. They can't get value for him back that continues to allow them to be a contender.

“This has been escalating behind the scenes all year. Now, it is playing out in public. James Harden's goal is to make the Sixers so uncomfortable that they just decide that they cannot bring him back to training camp and that they do a trade.”

The Sixers are definitely in a weird spot, especially if Harden continues to bash the franchise and those running the team behind the scenes. Then again, he is the one that could wind up paying the ultimate price if he fails to honor his contract with the team.

Based on the league's CBA agreement and the section discussing Withholding Services, any player who withholds playing services called for by a Player Contract for more than thirty (30) days after the start of the last Season covered by his Player Contract shall be deemed not to have “complet[ed] his Player Contract by rendering the playing services called for thereunder.” As a result, this player will not be a Veteran Free Agent and they cannot negotiate or sign a Player Contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the Team for which the player last played expressly agreed otherwise.

Essentially, this means that Philadelphia would have the power in negotiations and they could prevent Harden from negotiating with any other team once he becomes a free agent next offseason. There is no telling if this is the path things will go down, but this is how this situation would play out if Harden was to sit out of camp and not honor his contract by not showing up and playing for the Sixers.

This whole ordeal involving Harden and the 76ers may wind up being problematic for the NBA as well. The league office has never been shy about voicing their displeasures involving players and trade requests and they recently warned both Damian Lillard and his agent regarding stance of Lillard only wanting to play for the Miami Heat. It is unknown if they will get involved with this matter and possibly warn Harden for what his intentions are.

At this time, Harden remains on the 76ers' roster and it does not appear as if the team will be trading him. Harden now has a big decision to make regarding if he will be showing up to training camp at the end of September.