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After many reports about his unhappiness in Brooklyn, James Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a truly blockbuster deal, sending Harden to the Sixers for Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, and Seth Curry. The former MVP is now joining up with Joel Embiid to finally get a shot at the NBA title, for the first time since the 2012 NBA Finals with the Oklahoma City Thunder. As the dust settles on this incredible deal between two Eastern Conference rivals, we look at the two bold predictions for James Harden with the Sixers.
James Harden Predictions
There will be an implosion
Fortunately for the Sixers, they got rid of Ben Simmons in the deal. The Aussie forward was a real thorn in the Sixers effort this season and while many offers were sent out and rejected, GM Daryl Morey finally found his ideal deal – James Harden. The Beard has been great for the past few years but declined a bit playing for Brooklyn. However, that should be the least of Morey's worries when it comes to this deal. While it will not be in the ranks of the Simmons one, the Sixers might be facing a huge implosion.
The best way to judge how something will look is to take a gander over past experiences. With James Harden, unfortunately, it does not look very good. After his gargantuan rise when he was traded to the Houston Rockets in 2012, Harden was consistently one of the top performers in the league. However, he did that by the Rockets front office doing whatever they can to surround him with supplemental talent. Guys like Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, and Clint Capela, to name a few, were never superstars, but played their best basketball with the Beard.
When the front office decided to bring in a new star to pair up with Harden, since that was the MO in the tough Western Conference, problems began. While team success with Harden paired up with a superstar did not suffer much at first, there were visible issues and Harden first demanded the squad trades Chris Paul, and later did the same when they brought in Russell Westbrook. Even after Westbrook was traded to the Washington Wizards and John Wall was brought in, Harden still was not happy and demanded a trade. Playing for the Nets, all looked great until the Kyrie Irving situation and the injury to Kevin Durant, which left Harden once again demanding for a trade.
The stage is set once again, as James Harden will play with Joel Embiid, who is a bonafide superstar and an MVP candidate. Now, we do not know much about what happens behind closed doors in NBA franchises, but Harden's track record with other superstars does not bode well for the Sixers. Morey clearly believes that he can balance it all out, but it remains to be seen.
James Harden will leave in the summer of 2023 without a title
The Sixers need to acknowledge that, while they did get rid of Simmons and brought in a former MVP, they are still not ready to cope with the best of the East. Losing Ben Simmons does not hurt right now, since it was inevitable, but it might when the powerhouses of the Eastern Conference come knocking on the Sixers door, and with the Sixers not being able to square up to them. Of course, they are still a superstar team and they should be one of the top four in the conference when the regular season draws to a close.
In the playoffs, however, it will be a completely different beast. For instance, the Sixers will mightly struggle to score against the suffocating Milwaukee Bucks defense, which got even longer now with their deadline trade for Serge Ibaka. On the other side of the court, the Sixers will also have issues defending the incoming Bucks. Matisse Thybulle is great, and so is Tyrese Maxey, but they both need to cover for Harden and for Tobias Harris, who are mediocre defenders at their very best.
This will most likely cause the Sixers to lose Harden in 2023 when his current contract expires. It was indicative that, even though he has an option to, Harden decided to not extend his contract right away. He did take the player option for the 2022-23 season, but that might be his last season in a Sixers jersey. Of course, so many factors can change in more than a year, but all logical outcomes point to Harden playing the free agent field when his current contract expires. Now, this does not mean that the trade was not worth it, as a year and change of Harden mean more to the Sixers than the prolonged drama with Simmons. However, it could get their fans asking questions about Morey's inability to find a deal that would bring more stability to the franchise.
Obviously, these could be wrong and James Harden could be a major success for the Sixers. No one saw the 2019 Raptors winning it all after they swung a huge trade for Kawhi Leonard, or the 2021 Bucks winning the title after bringing in Jrue Holiday in November of 2020. However, these changes were deals that were addressing some faults of the respective teams and there was a degree of timing and luck. With the Sixers, common sense still says that the addition of Harden simply does not move the needle enough for the Sixers to be considered outright favorites for the title.
