76ers: 4 players with most to prove during training camp

4 players with most to prove during training camp for the 76ers

4. James Harden

Surprised? I hope not. You shouldn’t be.

In the latest installment of his summer-long theatrics, James Harden finally suited up for the 76ers in camp. That despite him openly showing novel levels of animosity to his front office (with some credence, to be fair) and a near-desperate degree of wanting to jump ship for the nth time.

But how is it that a former MVP who’s still an elite player at best still has a lot to prove during training camp for a team he would love to gallivant from? Well, he’s handcuffed and basically has to treat preseason as an audition for whichever franchise will show his more than enough empathy to give him relief out of Philadelphia.

At this juncture, Harden has no choice but to show other front offices that he can still be a tremendous floor and ceiling-raiser on the court and a positive influence off of it. He has shown nothing but the opposite of the latter, while the former bears some question-marked sized insignias following his heavily criticized playoff run last season.

The most proactive way to view this if you’re the 76ers brass is to hope for Harden to fully showcase his best self so that win-now teams will attempt to snag him for or near the price the team has set, which has been an elusive proposition so far.