The Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers recently agreed to a James Harden blockbuster trade. Harden heads to LA as part of the deal, while Philadelphia is set to receive a few key NBA players along with picks.
The Sixers reportedly acquired Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, KJ Martin, Robert Covington, a pick swap, and multiple draft picks. Meanwhile, the Clippers received PJ Tucker and Filip Petrusev in addition to Harden. Losing a player of Harden's caliber typically hurts a team's chance of competing, but Tim Legler of ESPN believes the Sixers actually “got better” as a result of the trade.
“This entire thing is so much less about the Clippers, this is all about Philly in my mind,” Legler said on ESPN, via ClutchPoints. “I think… Philadelphia got better. Did they get better to the point where they are looking Boston in the eye, they're looking Milwaukee in the eye? Probably not.
“They're probably on that next tier. But I think, to me, this is the third best team in the Eastern Conference.”
James Harden leaving Sixers impact on Joel Embiid
From a talent perspective, losing James Harden hurt the Sixers. However, Harden clearly wanted out and Legler believes Philadelphia acquired enough talent/depth to keep them afloat in the East.
Legler also made an intriguing point about Harden's impact on superstar Joel Embiid.
“There's another component to it as well guys,” Legler continued. “James Harden was a guy that dramatically affected Joel Embiid's demeanor, body language, frustration. You'd see James Harden go into these dark places in a playoff game, take a look at Joel Embiid when that was going on.
“I'm not saying he's blameless… he had some games he didn't play as well either. It was obvious, he's looking at this dude saying, ‘wait a second man, you're an MVP, you're an All-League caliber player, and now here we are in the middle of the second quarter of a Game 5, it's 2-2, and you have two points in the middle of the second quarter…' All of the sudden, here goes Embiid's shoulders. They drop. And now you got two stars in a bad place mentally, that is now gone.
“The black cloud has been lifted from the Sixers organization.”
Legler's take will certainly catch both the Sixers and Clippers' attention. He made sure to mention that Embiid wasn't “blameless” for Philadelphia's struggles in the playoffs. That said, he hinted that it was Harden who brought Embiid down from a mental standpoint in the postseason.
We can sit here and speculate all we want, but in the end Joel Embiid's performance in the 2023-24 postseason will ultimately confirm or disprove Legler's comments.
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