76ers Acquire James Harden Before NBA Trade Deadline

As mentioned earlier, the Philadelphia 76ers have long been tied to James Harden and a potential trade for the former league MVP. This offseason, James Harden expressed his desire to want to be traded from the Houston Rockets and numerous sources have confirmed to NBA Analysis Network that the Philadelphia 76ers are indeed on Harden’s list of teams he would prefer to be traded to.

If the 76ers were able to keep Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid in a trade for James Harden, they would, without a doubt, be the best team in the Eastern Conference and have a legit case at winning the 2021 NBA Finals. The big question that remains to be answered though is if the Sixers are willing to pay the “King’s Ransom” that the Rockets are asking in return.

Numerous reports have said that the Rockets would not trade Harden to the Sixers unless they were receiving Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid and it seems like those two players are out of the question on Philadelphia’s side of things. Ultimately, the two sides will come to a deal because Harden will do everything he can to be traded from Houston.

The player that would have to be on the move if the 76ers are able to keep both Simmons and Embiid is Tobias Harris. Out of everyone on the team, Tobias Harris has the largest lump sum of guaranteed money on the team at $181.7M through 2023. In order for the Sixers to absorb James Harden’s massive contract, they would have to give one up in return to make the financials work, which is why it is safe to assume Tobias Harris would be on the move if the 76ers were to hypothetically keep both Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. 

James Harden already has one foot out of the door in Houston and it is just a matter of time before he is traded. The 76ers seem like the heavy front-runners to land him right now and while they may not want to trade Ben Simmons, the asking price for Harden will likely not change, leaving the Sixers with a franchise-altering decision.