The Philadelphia 76ers pulled off a big trade ahead of the NBA trade deadline, as Daryl Morey landed the player that he has been coveting since joining the franchise in James Harden. It was a relatively steep price, as the 76ers traded away Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks.
Things unfolded relatively quickly, as Nets’ head coach Steve Nash said that Harden enjoyed Brooklyn and no trade talks were being held, but the tune changed quickly. Philadelphia was persistent in their efforts to acquire Harden and eventually made it happen.
The deal is one that some people have questioned, however. The NBA has rules against tampering and it is hard to imagine those weren’t stretched to get this deal done. Once things started leaking about Harden eventually ending up with the 76ers one way or the other, eyebrows were raised.
If what Zach Lowe suggested as a conspiracy theory floating around the league comes to fruition, there will be even more people wondering what was going on. During a recent episode of the Lowe Post Podcast, he suggested that the 76ers could look to add a third superstar to Joel Embiid and Harden.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMOR: Intriguing ‘Third Star’ Options For Philadelphia 76ers To Target
“Here’s the conspiracy. This is the one going around the league – that James Harden, to be clear, just debunked – that he’s going to decline his option, re-sign for less money, so that Philadelphia can dump Tobias Harris into somebody’s cap space and open up – if they dump some other people – an almost, almost, almost max slot for a third star. That’s the one that’s going around the league. And the people who say that are like, ‘If that happens, some eyebrows at the league office might be raised.'”
Harden’s paperwork to opt into his option wasn’t filed in time to be completed with the trade, but he has stated he plans to still opt-in during the offseason. However, if the opportunity arises for the team to add another star to the mix, can the 76ers convince Harden to sign for less money?
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMOR: Intriguing ‘Third Star’ Options For Philadelphia 76ers To Target
That may be a tough sell, but if it improves the team’s chances of winning a championship, he very well could be on board. The team tried moving Tobas Harris’ contract as part of trade negotiations before the trade deadline but found no takers.
There are a lot of hurdles to clear for the Philadelphia 76ers to get to max space with Joel Embiid and James Harden, but there are certainly avenues to achieving it. It starts with Harden signing for less, which would likely sound the alarms of the NBA office as it could mean the 76ers were working on plans outside of the times that the league allows.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMOR: Intriguing ‘Third Star’ Options For Philadelphia 76ers To Target
There is nothing against an organization and its players discussing deals to provide flexibility to upgrade the roster, but it is certainly something that other teams around the league could have some questions about.
