The tempestuous wait for the resolution to the delimiting James Harden dilemma continues. With just a tad more than a couple of months left before the new season officially begins, the Philadelphia 76ers still do not know what the roster will look like come training camp.
But if anything’s certain, it’s that Harden will never be donning the Sixers colors again barring another holdout, which the new CBA rules already prohibit in his case. Hence, the front office should move forward under the assumption that new players have to be plugged in to keep the team afloat.
However, it seems like Harden’s preferred destination has been very hesitant on including a player whom the 76ers could very well covet amid ongoing trade discussions.
Potential 76ers target reportedly not being made available amid ongoing James Harden trade talks
Harden has made it widely known that the LA Clippers are the team he’s looking to ring chase with. While the latter does not have a lot outside of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard that can entice the 76ers, they do have some young talent and draft capital they can send out to sweeten the pot for Philly.
Terance Mann, an incoming fifth-year guard, has become quite the popular commodity for teams looking to extract value out of their big names in recent years. However, the Clippers are hesitant on including him and any significant draft compensation in any package for Harden.
With the former MVP on the last year of his contract and singularly pinpointing LA as his target landing spot, in addition to new rules making re-signing him difficult, the Clips are banking on such and are impliedly avoiding bidding against themselves.
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Whether the 76ers brass settle with LA’s spare parts remains to be seen, but it would be foolish for them to strike a deal where incoming returns only consist of salary dumps. Quite easily, the lack of Mann nor draft capital should be more than enough for the 76ers to close the door on negotiations with the Clippers.
Hopefully, this is just LA’s front office trying to set an improbable benchmark to leave some leeway for eventually loftier demands from the 76ers.