Five Key Questions For The Sixers After The James Harden Trade
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I’d like to start off by congratulating you for making it through what likely has been the most unpleasant off-court saga in recent Sixers history – and boy, have there been a lot of them. James Harden is finally gone, and the Sixers are once again (for the time being) merely a basketball team and not a circus. No more speeches to Chinese children, no more signs at nightclubs about pulling out, no more getting kicked off of airplanes, and no more player participation policy violations. Imagine reading that sentence four months ago.
As we analyze the deal and reflect on the past few months of this saga, there are a number of key questions that linger overhead.
Why now?
Perhaps the strangest aspect of this deal is the timing. The Clippers and Sixers have both come out of the gate looking strong, and neither team had any reason to have more urgency than they did a month or two ago; if anything, I could’ve seen both teams growing more stubborn and talking themselves into the idea that their leverage would grow stronger with time.
From the Sixers’ perspective, perhaps the lingering possibility of Harden actually having to play in front of the home crowd played a role in the trade happening now. Perhaps they liked the good will that they were generating early on in the season and didn’t want Harden’s return to ruin it. Perhaps Joshua Harris, who Shams Charania reported was involved in the trade calls on Monday, simply got impatient and forced Daryl Morey’s hand.
If it’s the Clippers who budged, it’s possible they simply wanted a full season of Harden, rather than acquiring him closer to the trade deadline, as a means of course correcting after having treated the last several regular seasons like they don’t matter.
Most likely, there was a mutual concession that it was time to make a deal; I don’t see this trade as either party having won the deal convincingly, or that one party held strong while the other one caved. The teams met right about in the middle of what they were both hoping to get – which makes me wonder why they couldn’t have finalized this deal months earlier, and raises the question of…
Was the holdout worth it?
I will give Daryl Morey credit for this much: I believe this was the most that he was ever going to get in return for James Harden. The holdout most definitely did not hurt his return.
What we don’t know exactly is how much, if at all, holding out for four months increased the return; we don’t know what the Clippers were offering on July 1st.
My personal belief is that if the holdout only netted them a 2029 pick swap, it wasn’t worth it. If it netted them more than that – meaning, if the July 1st offer only included the 2028 first round pick – then yeah, it was probably worth it.
These calculations are always completely subjective; I’m weighing the cost of mental turmoil against draft picks, which is obviously impossible to quantify. But I guess what I’d like to make clear is that I don’t want anyone involved to forget just how much this sucked. In the list of outgoing assets in this trade, I would like for “four months of headaches and emotional turmoil for our fans” to be included.
While every other fan base was innocently daydreaming about how their new roster would fit together, we were deciphering propaganda leaks from Harden’s camp, weighing in on the ramifications of his public declarations, and waking up to Woj bombs detailing Harden’s every breath. I recognize that it wasn’t exactly a personal attack, but boy did it feel like a slap in the face for the Sixers to willingly make the experience of following them so miserable for their fans for so long, especially after the way last season ended – all for a pick swap that is not super likely to convey.
So, was it worth it? Maybe. I’m still going to be pissed off about it for a very long time, but I’m not at all unhappy with the return and I am thrilled that James Harden is no longer here.
Who starts?
As someone who was a bit skeptical of the Kelly Oubre signing, I cannot believe I’m saying this, but he should absolutely join the starting lineup alongside Maxey, Melton, Harris, and Embiid.
There are a few reasons for that, including the fact that he’s played excellent basketball, is acclimated with their system, and is the closest thing to a natural small forward that they have on their roster.
It’s only been three games, but Oubre has done everything right to start the season – he’s been active and aggressive on defense, he hasn’t hijacked the offense, and he has altered his shot profile from previous seasons by cutting down on his mid-range attempts (he has not attempted a single shot from between 10 feet and the 3-point line this season, per Basketball-Reference).
At the very least, Oubre deserves a shot in the starting lineup as the new additions acclimate themselves and as the trade market develops for whatever the Sixers hope to do next. Which brings us to….
What are the Sixers set up to do next?
This type of trade is something the Sixers have not done in a long, long time – a deal that re-stocks the cupboard with assets to set themselves up for a deal in the future. They have been burning the candle at both ends for years now, and with this one deal, they now have a chance to get back into the trade market for the next blockbuster deal.
I wouldn’t say they are set up to acquire a superstar, but a fringe star such as Zach LaVine or OG Anunoby would seem to make sense. Between the 2026 and 2028 picks they acquired in this trade, Jaden Springer, De’Anthony Melton, and their own draft picks from 2028-2030, the Sixers have a solid pool of assets that could get them in the mix for that type of player.
Anunoby seems like an ideal target given the positional fit and Toronto’s current uncertainty, but the reporting out of Toronto has always been that Masai Ujiri’s asking price has been astronomical. LaVine intrigues me less, given his defensive flaws, his contract, and the ascension of Maxey. Donovan Mitchell is also a name there have been whispers about, and there of course are always one or two players who become available that no one could have seen coming.
The other good part of this deal, of course, is that it keeps the Sixers’ books completely clean after this season; Joel Embiid is the only player on the roster with a guaranteed contract for 2024-25. If I had to bet, though, my money would be on Morey trying to trade for another star this season rather than waiting until free agency; I doubt he wants to let a year of Embiid’s prime go by without trying to be in the mix for title contention.
How good is the roster in its current condition?
Whether it was a conscious decision or not, I do like the fact that the Sixers now have a clear and cohesive identity as a versatile, athletic team that has an elite defensive ceiling – Maxey and Tobias Harris are the only rotation players who I would not consider to be above-average defenders.
The Sixers aren’t exactly rife with elite defenders, but there are almost no weak spots in this rotation, and the roster is now well built to be able to carry out Nick Nurse’s defensive schemes and identity. I would bet on them being able to play at the level of a top 5-7 defense in the league with this current group, and I think that they can play at a ~48 win pace. But as I said previously, I don’t believe this to be the final iteration of this group for this season.