Daryl Morey Must Receive Good Player Back In James Harden Trade

Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden and president of basketball operations Daryl Morey

In an interview with 97.5 The Fanatic’s Anthony Gargano, Philadelphia 76ers general manager Daryl Morey admitted that James Harden desires to play for another team. However, Morey is determined to receive a valuable asset in return, and if not, the trade will not happen.

“If we don’t get either a very good player or something we can turn into a very good player, then we’re just not going to do it,” Morey said. “If James were to turn his mind around, we would all be thrilled. You’ve heard [Joel Embiid’s] comments about that. But at this moment he prefers to be traded, and we are attempting to honor that.”

Daryl Morey Will Attempt To Honor James Harden’s Trade Request

Morey, whose relationship with Harden dates back to their time with the Houston Rockets, will do his best to honor the trade request.

Before requesting a trade, Harden opted into his $35.6 million deal for the 2023-24 season before free agency.

“James is a very good player,” Morey said. “Right now, unfortunately, he does prefer to be somewhere else. I do have a long relationship with him. I’m attempting to honor that. But the reality is, if we do look at a trade, it’s going to be for one of two things: It’s either going to be for a player who continues to help us be right there . . . Or we’re going to do it for something where we get enough draft picks and things like that in a deal such that we can then turn those into a player who can be a running mate with Joel as well.”

Daryl Morey Addresses Joel Embiid’s Championship Comments

This past weekend, the reigning MVP Joel Embiid spoke at the Uninterrupted Film Festival, where he sent the media into a tailspin after saying he wants to win a championship in “Philly or anywhere else.”

Morey, however, is not worried about his superstar player asking out like Harden.

“He made those comments a bunch of days ago at sort of a semi-private event; they just got published,” Morey said. “I spoke to him at length yesterday. He spoke to Coach Nurse yesterday. He’s very excited. Coach Nurse is planning to do some innovative things for training camp that Joel’s excited about.

“Look, part of it’s just, at the end of the day, he’s talking about the business of the NBA. In his mind, he wants to win here. He wants to win it for Philly. That’s the only place he wants to win. He absolutely was referencing that it’s not totally in his control where he is at all times.”


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