Is James Harden staying with the 76ers? Plus, motivating the youth

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If you were trying to get traded, would you wear a fat suit under your warm-ups?

Standstill in Philly

The easy way or the Harden way?

There has been so much focus on Damian Lillard and where he might go and what his new single released late last night might say (nothing, by the way) that it seems like we’ve kind of collectively forgotten about James Harden and his trade status. News broke right before free agency that Harden and the 76ers would work on finding a trade for him out of Philly. It seems like he wants to go to the Clippers. And … crickets … after that.

Sam Amick’s latest from Las Vegas provided an update on what’s happening with Harden and the trade market:

Yet despite all that relevant history, and in spite of the fact that (Daryl) Morey may know Harden, and all of his complexities, better than anyone in the NBA, rival executives with whom I spoke at summer league were universally convinced that the Sixers are now attempting to keep Harden. Discontent be damned.

The sluggish trade talks between the Sixers and Clippers about Harden would seem to support this stance. Morey is known to be asking for the kind of return that — as of Tuesday afternoon — left the strong impression that he had no genuine interest in getting a deal done anytime soon.

Harden’s stance has not changed, a source close to him told The Athletic. He still wants to leave Philadelphia.

This could get wonderfully awkward, and we love awkward chaos. Morey, the Sixers’ president of basketball ops, can be stubborn, and we saw how that played out with Ben Simmons. Morey is known for throwing out trade proposals that are symbolic middle fingers to the other team.

Could Morey withstand Harden’s ways of potentially making things uncomfortable? Remember, there are people on the internet who believe he even wore a fat suit during warm-ups with the Rockets to get traded. Is Morey able to keep ownership calm if something wild like that happens?

The idea of keeping Harden probably won’t work. We’ve seen Tom Thibodeau think that could work with Jimmy Butler, and it blew up. But Harden has an expiring deal, and he can threaten any team trying to trade for him that he won’t re-sign.

I actually do hope Harden’s situation stagnates enough to have us monitoring Sixers training camp wondering if he’s going to show up and eager to see what happens if he does. And I hope he’s wearing a fat suit.

Let’s check in with Shams.

The Latest From Shams

News and notes from the week

Summer league is rolling along in Las Vegas, and the NBA world is still waiting for movement on those Harden and Lillard situations. In the meantime, some highlights during the calm before the storm: