The James Harden era has long come and gone for the Philadelphia 76ers, but with how well Tyrese Maxey has played this year, some hindsight could begin to trickle in: Daryl Morey should have gotten in more in the deal, with a focus on building around Maxey for the long haul.
Joel Embiid still has some high-level basketball left in the tank, but it’s quickly become clear that Maxey is the shining star in Philly. Alongside rookie standout VJ Edgecombe, he’ll be looking to lead a new era of 76ers basketball, and it could have been smarter for Morey to figure out a way to keep that in mind when the Harden trade went down.
Even though it might have been tricky.
How has Tyrese Maxey changed things?
When Harden requested his trade away from the 76ers, it was a mess. He publicly spoke out against Morey, and it made it very hard for Philly to get a fair return in a deal.
In the end, the 76ers got back Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, KJ Martin, a 2028 unprotected first-round pick, two second-round picks, a 2029 pick swap, and an additional first-round pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
All of those picks are great. They’ll help the 76ers moving forward. But none of the players really panned out in the way the Sixers may have hoped, and they were all on the older side, too.
Obviously, the previous point of Philly not having much leverage stands. The Clippers likely didn’t want to include many of their young players in the trade (Terance Mann being an example).
Everything about the way the 76ers have done things for the past few years has been a bit odd, and the Harden trade—the entire Harden situation, for that matter—was a big part of that mess.
Had Morey handled things better with Harden, or tried different ways of getting more out of the Clippers, maybe the 76ers would be better set up to build around Maxey right now.
That said, Philly is still in a good spot. Edgecombe and Jared McCain are solid pieces to play next to Maxey, and Embiid still has some years left to help them win.
But still, that entire era of 76ers basketball could end up going down as a question mark, especially with how it ended up.
And with how well Maxey has played this season, it creates some questions, such as, ‘What if Morey focused on building around Maxey when he was dealing with the end of Harden’s tenure in Philly?’