Philadelphia 76ers
At the trade deadline this season, the Philadelphia 76ers made a huge move that shook things up in the NBA by trading Ben Simmons and others for former league-MVP James Harden.
Now, with Harden and Embiid, the 76ers have high championship aspirations this season, but win or lose, the Sixers will still be looking for ways to continue adding high-level talent to this roster around their two All-Stars.
Moving Tobias Harris and his big contract is something that will be of interest to Philadelphia in the offseason and according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, there is a conspiracy going around the league that James Harden could be prepared to turn down his $47 million player option in the offseason in order to allow the 76ers to open up a third max contract spot on their roster, one that could allow them to pursue Bradley Beal.
“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,” Lowe stated. “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.”
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Pursuing Bradley Beal would mean that the 76ers would almost definitely have to trade Tobias Harris to Washington, but they would most likely also have to trade breakout guard Tyrese Maxey.
In his second season in the league, Tyrese Maxey has quickly emerged as a high-level scoring talent in the backcourt for Philadelphia, making him a young asset that is extremely valuable right now.
There could be a lot of traction right now in terms of Beal and the 76ers, especially after former NBA player Andrew Bogut raised the rumor of the Wizards’ All-Star wanting to go Philadelphia on his “Rogue Bogues” podcast.
“I’ve heard a pretty big rumor … from some people that are pretty close to the situation in the NBA: Big three to Philly. Brad Beal is trying to get to Philadelphia in the offseason to team up with Harden and Embiid,” Bogut said. “Philly’s desperate, obviously, to try to get off Harris, anyway. They have been for a while. And I think they’re even more desperate now to free up that cap space somehow. It will most likely have to be a sign-and-trade with Philly. But don’t be surprised if a big three forms in Philly. That’s the word on the street.”
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With many around the league believing that Harden could opt to stay with the 76ers for less money, the team wanting to move Tobias Harris and Bradley Beal’s future being up-in-the-air at this point, the “Beal to Philadelphia” rumors are definitely somewhat believable at the moment.
