The James Harden and Sixers debacle is heating up and it’s only getting uglier.
After he made headlines for calling Sixers president Daryl Morey a liar while on an Adidas press tour in China, the NBA announced they would be launching an investigation into the matter and we now have some details about why Morey was called a liar.
ESPN Sources with @RamonaShelburne: The NBA has launched an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding 76ers star James Harden’s public admonishment of franchise’s President Daryl Morey: https://t.co/8CyXFmu4gx
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 19, 2023
According to the Athletic’s Shams Charania, Harden told investigators that he called Morey a liar because he told him that after he opted into his contract for this upcoming season, he would trade Harden quickly. That happened before free agency started and Harden is still a member of the Sixers.
As part of NBA probe into his “liar” comment, James Harden told league investigators he was referring to Daryl Morey telling Harden he will trade him “quickly” following the $35.6 million opt in for 2023-24, per sources. The 76ers’ stance now is they expect to keep Harden.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 21, 2023
To add to that, the organization has ended trade talks surrounding the former MVP and expect him to show up to the start of training camp.
It could seem like the NBA is trying to get some “extra” information out of Harden and try to get him to reveal some tampering that was going on behind the scenes. Or maybe some other promises made, like a big contract that was promised last season, to him and/or others.
If that is the case, the question then becomes how much is Harden willing to tell in order to get what he wants because he could also come out of this looking bad. The Sixers will come out looking worse though because above anything, it’s against league rules to promise a contract for a future season and that could lead to some harsh repercussions.
Either way, this ordeal seems like it’ll get a lot more intriguing before it ends.
