The NBA’s long, long, extremely long, way-too-long national nightmare is over. James Harden is no longer with the Philadelphia 76ers and is finally in LA. The Los Angeles Clippers agreed to terms with the Sixers late Monday night in a massive trade that sends the former MVP Harden to his preferred destination in LA after months of posturing and bad blood.
The trade details via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski see Harden sent to LA along with PJ Tucker and rookie Filip Petrusev in exchange for:
An unprotected 2028 first-round pick
Two second-round picks
One 2029 pick swap
Another 2026 first-round pick (Courtesy of the Clippers via the Thunder)
Robert Covington
Nic Batum
Marcus Morris
KJ Martin
Harden joins former teammate (on two different teams) Russell Westbrook alongside his current (and former) teammates Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. League sources have indicated to Action Network for months that Paul George and Kawhi Leonard had both advocated for this move with the Clippers’ front office following years of Leonard’s insistence that they add a star point guard. They’ve now added two in the last eight months, but are they still the players Leonard thinks them to be?
Let’s break all this down with the biggest questions.
What's Next for the Sixers?
The biggest question front offices will be wondering as morning breaks across a different, if not unexpected, NBA environment is what happens now with Joel Embiid.
Embiid hinted this summer that he might be open to leaving Philly to pursue his goal of winning an NBA title. Multiple front offices are thought to be keeping a close eye for a chance to pounce if Embiid decides to follow Harden with a trade request. The New York Knicks and Miami Heat, league sources say, would be battling to reach the front of that line.
That’s what makes this trade so fascinating.
On the one hand, Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey has added veterans that can help the Sixers, with a prime Embiid and a surging Tyrese Maxey, compete for their first conference finals appearance (or better) this spring. Robert Covington and Marcus Morris replace PJ Tucker’s spot-up three-point shooting and defensive versatility. Batum adds versatility at multiple forward positions.
The Sixers also added draft capital, which Morey can now turn around and pursue star trades with. He couldn’t find a one-for-one star replacement in a deal for Harden, but he picked up enough in the volume of assets he received from the Clippers to then turn around and try and add another star.
ESPN reported just that Monday night:
"The Sixers had wanted to get two first-round picks out of a Harden trade and believe that those assets — coupled with the second-round picks and a pick swap — give them a chance to pursue another high-level guard in a trade to partner with MVP Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey this season."
Who is that star? No one knows for sure, and the Sixers might not even really know. The most obvious candidates that come to mind are Chicago’s Zach LaVine and Toronto’s Pascal Siakam.
LaVine has been shopped by the Bulls for some time without generating anything close to a sufficient return.
Siakam is seemingly stuck in no-man’s-land with Toronto, wanting to stay on a new extension with a team that does not appear to share that enthusiasm for a long-term relationship.
Either one would put the Sixers much closer to their first conference finals appearance if Embiid can stay healthy for once.
Notably, the four contracts the Sixers traded for — Morris, Batum, Covington, and Martin— are all expiring deals. So, any team looking to trade a star and clear their cap sheet in a rebuild would find an easy partner in the Sixers.
Most teams opting for a rebuild don’t want an empty cap sheet they have to fill to meet the salary floor. They want to take on money in exchange for draft capital. The picks certainly help a rebuilding effort but those contracts don’t.
Meanwhile, there’s the other scenario: if the Process truly is coming to a close, be it this season or this summer following a potential Embiid trade request, the Sixers are in a position to offload assets very quickly thanks to this deal. They can sign Maxey to a max extension, use the draft capital, let the expiring ones go, and try and build a young team with Maxey and whatever an Embiid trade would generate.
The Sixers will not posture this as a possibility; they’ll want to project contention until the moment the press release of an Embiid trade is sent.
But if there’s one overriding theme in how this particular trade came together for the Sixers, it’s this: they have flexibility and options. They can attempt to build a contender with what they got from the Harden trade, or they can pivot to a rebuild. The NBA will be watching very carefully for which direction they go.
What's the One Bet to Make Right Now
Tyrese Maxey’s Most Improved Player odds were hammered into the dirt late Monday night, dropping to +200. With Maxey averaging 30 points in the first three games of the season, along with seven rebounds and six assists with only a moderate bump in usage, he’s the rightful favorite. With Harden no longer a threat to absorb his touches upon a return, that value only increases.
You’re chasing steam and buying into what may be peak value with Maxey right now. But the market’s not overreacting here, either.
There are times when MIP is established early in the season, and no one really challenges it. If Maxey stays healthy and maintains even 75% of this production, he could have a healthy lead for this and be a minus number by the time we hit New Year’s.
Are the Clippers Going to Make This Work and How?
There is a plethora of reasons not to believe in the Clippers. Their entire franchise history, for one. Harden’s rich history of playoff failures is another. The difficulty of Kawhi Leonard making it through a playoff run healthy is maybe the biggest.
There will be questions about the role and fit for Harden with this team, and they’re fair. This isn’t the Rockets, where he could just ISO every single play vs. forced switches. This isn’t the Sixers, where he could just spam pick and roll with Embiid repeatedly. (Though Zubac points overs might have more value than people think early on.)
Harden will have to fit in next to two players who are arguably better or at least more consistent (when healthy) in their careers in Paul George and Leonard. (Never mind the Russ factor, a separate conundrum.)
But you should also consider this fairly simple formula: Harden eats the regular season innings Kawhi Leonard can never endure, and Leonard picks up the burden in the playoffs when Harden so often wears down.
That balance makes the most sense: Harden as the innings-eater, setting up the Claw as the closer on the mound.
Bear in mind that this was the Clippers’ rotation of players to play more than five minutes vs. the Spurs:
Kawhi Leonard (still in place)
Paul George (still in place)
Robert Covington (theoretically replaced by Tucker)
Russell Westbrook (theoretically replaced by Harden)
Ivica Zubac (still in place)
Bones Hyland (still in place)
Mason Plumlee (still in place)
Norman Powell (still in place)
Don’t overlook the Tucker addition here. Tucker is tough as nails and can completely disrupt possessions to the point of failure. He allows the Clippers to play big with Kawhi at small forward and Paul George at 2-guard if needed or to play small with Tucker at small ball five.
The Clippers will need that versatility in the Western Conference Playoffs and missed it last year with only Zubac and Mason Plumlee in the rotation.
Still, you shouldn’t rush to bet on the new superteam. They have to learn how to play with one another, fix their various issues, and hope that Harden can provide benefits despite not being in shape and doesn’t demand out again in a month.
The Nets and Sixers talked themselves into Harden as part of a superstar team-up, and both times it ended disastrously. Leonard has been unable to stay healthy for a playoff run since 2019. If the Clippers want to make what is an enormous gamble playoff, they’ll need injury luck to be on their side for once, finally.
Otherwise, this is yet another Clippers headline that wins the headline but not the championship.
