76ers await James Harden’s decision about player option before start of free agency

James Harden may need side-eyed questions this week — very similar to he did in a playful response in his Houston days — about his future with the Philadelphia 76ers.

However the subject is actual in Philly: Will Harden return to the 76ers for a 3rd season?

All indicators level to Harden declining his $35.6 million possibility on Thursday and coming into this summer season as an unrestricted free agent. That leaves the 2018 NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star free to signal with any staff.

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A return to the Rockets? Maybe, if he prioritizes money over a championship chase. The 76ers? Relies upon. Does Harden actually take pleasure in taking part in because the second choice to NBA MVP Joel Embiid?

Plan C?

Harden may not have deliberate a lot past a possible Houston reunion or Sixers return. Philadelphia has the home-contract edge: The 76ers have the appropriate to supply Harden a $210 million, four-year deal, $8 million extra total than another staff.

Houston, although, the place Harden blossomed right into a surefire Corridor of Famer is a metropolis that also tugs at his coronary heart.

Nick Nurse, employed earlier this month to interchange Doc Rivers as coach of the 76ers, needs a shot at teaching Harden.

“James has a call to make, and I’d be very joyful if he got here again,” Nurse stated when he was employed.

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Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse takes questions from the media throughout a press convention on the NBA basketball groups facility, Thursday, June 1, 2023, in Camden, N.J. (AP Photograph/Chris Szagola)

Tobias Harris, himself in a little bit of a contract quandary this summer season, additionally stumped for a Harden return as he grabbed rebounds and posed for selfies with kids Tuesday at a Fanatics promotion.

“There’s not many guys that may exit and drop 40 in a playoff recreation. I believe that goes underneath the radar a little bit bit an excessive amount of,” Harris stated. “I believe James is an exceptional participant, anyone who works his tail off, and anyone’s who’s an total nice chief. In fact I would like him again.”

Harden, who turns 34 in August, performed the previous couple of months with nagging left Achilles soreness and flashed solely glimpses of his Houston prime. He scored 45 factors in Recreation 1 and 42 in Recreation 4 victories of the Jap Convention semifinal loss against Bostonand was 0 for six on 3s in Recreation 2 and Recreation 6 losses. He scored solely 9 factors in Recreation 7, and that included going scoreless within the second half.

Caught within the muck of wage cap restrictions, the 76ers have few actual choices to interchange Harden ought to he signal elsewhere. Not solely that, the Sixers are fielding commerce affords for Harris, who enters the ultimate season of a $180-million, five-year contract. Harris averaged 14.7 factors final season, effectively behind NBA scoring champ Embiid, Harden and Tyrese Maxey.

Torrel Harris, Tobias Harris’ father and agent, blasted the way in which the 76ers have used Harris since 2018 and stated on the “Enterprise of Sports activities” podcast his son was an “murderer scorer.”

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Philadelphia 76ers James Harden appears to go the ball throughout the first half of Recreation 3 of the groups NBA basketball first-round playoff sequence in opposition to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, April 20, 2023, in New York. (AP Photograph/Frank Franklin II)

“I imply, they will’t cease him,” Torrel Harris stated on the podcast. “No one within the league can cease him. So he’s confirmed that over his profession, even when he was with the Clippers.”

Harris has the all-important expiring contract that the 76ers can dangle as commerce bait. Whereas his dad believed Harris continues to be a chief scorer, the 76ers ahead needs to place a freeze on public negotiations.

“Once I’m a father, I’m going to inform my child he’s higher than LeBron James,” Harris stated. “However I’ve additionally instructed him as a dad and agent, to not converse for me in relation to the media. Clearly, he has his viewpoint on that. However that’s not the way in which I really feel. I knew going into final yr what my function was and I used to be going to be the fourth possibility offensively. I knew that stepping into.”

Harris stated he was “OK” with that function and knew if the 76ers had been going to win a championship, he could be the participant to “sacrifice from that group.”

Generally, the dip in manufacturing meant a dip in recognition.

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James Harden #1 of the Philadelphia 76ers excessive fives Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers throughout the recreation in opposition to the Boston Celtics throughout Recreation 5 of the 2023 NBA Playoffs Jap Convention semi-finals on Could 9, 2023 on the TD Backyard in Boston, Massachusetts. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE by way of Getty Pictures)

“Commerce hypothesis, informal Sixers followers, they’d commerce me for a Crumbl Cookie,” he stated.

The cookie actually crumbled for the Sixers for the playoffs, the place they had been eradicated within the second spherical for the third straight season. The early exit for a staff that received 54 video games marked 22 seasons because the franchise reached the Jap Convention finals. It value Rivers his job.

It’s as much as Nurse, who received a championship with Toronto in 2019, to discover a components that may win the 76ers a championship.

With or with out Harden and Harris.

“I imagine we’ve the appropriate expertise to be a championship staff,” Harris stated. “We now have the appropriate items and the appropriate tradition. With a brand new coach, I’m excited with what we are able to deliver to the desk.”

Harris and Embiid — who declined to speak in regards to the Fanatics’ goodwill merchandise promotion for underserved children — helped with the giveaway of 300,000 items of merch donated to round 100,000 children and their households in almost 100 totally different areas throughout the nation.

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Philadelphia 76ers Tobias Harris, left, tries to get previous Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James throughout the first half of an NBA basketball recreation, Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, in Philadelphia. (AP Photograph/Matt Slocum)

Michael Rubin, CEO of Fanatics, additionally co-founded the Reform Alliance, a non-profit group devoted to probation, parole and sentencing reform within the United State. He as soon as had an possession stake within the 76ers, is a buddy with Harden and tried to not choose a facet on the contract subject.

So, ought to a 76ers fan purchase in good religion a Harden 76ers jersey?

“I’d at all times inform them to purchase a 76ers Harden jersey,” he stated. “Look, I haven’t been near the state of affairs. Each the Sixers and James are household to me. However pay attention, I imagine in these guys.”