James Harden Avoids Sixers Media Day, Demanding Trade: Reports

PHILADELPHIA, PA — It's said there's finite energy in the universe, so when the Sixers traded Ben Simmons and the baggage of his lingering controversies to the Brooklyn Nets in a blockbuster a few summers ago, they thought they might've realigned their stars.

But as time has proven, in receiving James Harden in return, they put a new face on a timeless problem.

The Beard was conspicuously absent from the Sixers media day on Monday, a signal of "a continued attempt to push for a trade," according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Harden, who has been feuding publicly with Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey for months, reportedly wants to be moved to the Los Angeles Clippers. His camp is said to be "awaiting" a trade, The Athletic's Shams Charania reports.

It marks the third team in three years with which Harden has taken similar public measures to express his discontent. He left his longtime home with the Houston Rockets after demanding a trade to Brooklyn, then left Brooklyn after a year, demanding a trade to Philadelphia.

The former MVP and 2022-23 NBA leader in assists was fined $100,000 earlier in the summer for calling Sixers president Daryl Morey a "liar" during a public tour of sorts in China earlier in the month.

“Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of," Harden said, adding for characteristically immoderate and even infamous effect: "Let me say that again. Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of."

For the Sixers, not only has the Simmons squabble morphed into the Harden hurrah, but it's continuing a long line of frustrating front office moves to put the right supporting cast around Joel Embiid. From Simmons to Jimmy Butler, Al Horford, Harden and more, the Sixers haven't found the right alchemy to get a ring.

All that said, it's hard to argue Harden's tenure with the Sixers has been unsuccessful. Harden's on-court support brought out the best version of Embiid, finally putting the big man over the top as he won a long overdue NBA MVP award last season. The Sixers were among the NBA's elite throughout the season, and came up a few minutes of good defense short of sending the Celtics home in six games in the conference semifinals.

But it's results that matter, and for an NBA world that has seen what Embiid and Tyrese Maxey and company can do, anything short of multiple championships is not fulfilling their potential.