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Brooklyn Nets star James Harden wants a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers ahead of Thursday's NBA trade deadline, but “he has resisted making that formal request out of fear of the public backlash that would come with asking out of a second franchise in consecutive season,” according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Harden put on quite the show when he asked out of Houston last season, so apparently now he's trying to keep this desire to leave more on the down low as he misses games with a hamstring injury. But this has just led to a torrent of leaks from every which way, resulting in a cacophony of rumors as the deadline approaches and now this report that seems to basically be a trade request anyway.
While Harden wants this deal to the Sixers, Nets general manager Sean Marks and Sixers president Daryl Morey reportedly still haven't had “serious dialogue” about a trade involving Ben Simmons. But, again, this hasn't stopped a number of different rumors coming out about the negotiations as the two sides apparently haggle over what else to include in a deal.
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Brooklyn is still hesitant to trade Harden and has been publicly adamant about not doing so, thinking keeping him is the best route to a title this season. But if Marks can extract enough from the Sixers, perhaps he actually does pull the trigger now that it's really known Harden would prefer to be in Philly and there could be questions about his commitment the rest of the season. Even if the trade doesn't go down now, there's a good possibility Harden finds his way to the Sixers in the offseason, with a potential threat of losing him for nothing in free agency.
Tyrese Maxey is supposedly untouchable in these talks, with names like Matisse Thybulle, Seth Curry and Danny Green being tossed around as possible additions to a deal. We're getting to crunch time here with the NBA trade deadline just hours away, so we'll see if either side blinks.
