James Harden and the Clippers are still trying to figure things out. There are moments that make it look like this will never work — the loss to a Denver Nuggets team without Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray — and there are wins that make becoming elite look possible, like last weekend’s comeback win over the Warriors. Fitting the four Los Angeles guys together — Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook — is a work in progress.
How Harden got to join that core after demanding a trade out of Philadephia is still a story. The big question has always been money and what was or was not promised to Harden in the wake of a pay cut he took for the 76ers the year before. Speaking to Sam Amick of the Athletic, Harden said that Daryl Morey did promise him a max contract that never came, leading to the dispute. Here are the key parts of the conversation (part of a longer interview with Harden worth reading).
The 76ers have denied any such promise and did so again when Amick reached out to them after his conversation with Harden. It also should be noted the NBA has investigated this situation twice and not found evidence of this promise (not that there would be, doing so, even if the max was given, would have been a violation of the CBA and Morey is too smart for that).
Let’s set up some context. In the summer of 2022, Harden took a $14.4 million contract haircut on the max he could have gotten, a move that freed up cap space for Morey and the 76ers to sign P.J. Tucker and Danuel House, as well as trade for De’Anthony Melton. There was a sense from many around the NBA that this was a quid pro quo arrangement, that Harden would not have taken less without the promise of being made whole later. The NBA investigated that situation and slapped Morey and the 76ers on the wrist (the 76ers lost two second-round picks) for tampering with Tucker and House by contacting them early. However, the league found nothing about a promise to Harden.
This past summer, when Harden thought he would be made whole, he was not and that was when the trade demand came, with Harden calling Morey a liar (although he said later the lie was about Morey trading him, not the contract). Harden also was fined $100,000 for comments he would not play for the 76ers again while still under contract.
All of that led to a trade where Philadephia added some depth, and with the breakout play of Tyrese Maxey the 76ers have looked like a threat in the East (albeit one that probably needs one more playmaker to be a threat to Boston and the rest of the NBA’s elite in a seven-game playoff series). The Clippers got their guy to make one big run with four Hall of Famers from Los Angeles, but that has been up and down so far.
Harden’s latest comments remain a he said/he said situation that will never be resolved officially, but it shows where Harden is coming from. Whether he will get the payday he seeks from Steve Ballmer and the Clippers is another question entirely.
