Will James Harden play this season? Looking at chances of his debut for 2023-24 NBA season amid Sixers trade saga
James Harden has put the Philadelphia 76ers and team president Daryl Morey in a tough spot of finding a trade for him as the season begins. After missing all of Philadelphia's preseason games, opening night looms on Wednesday with Harden still part of the Sixers' roster. Many are asking if the 2017-18 league MVP will play this season, and that's what we will explore.
With the most recent report that Harden has started to practice again after missing 10 straight days, there seems light at the end of the tunnel that he will play.
The Philadelphia 76ers will open up the season against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, but Harden did not travel with the team.
“He’s been gone 10 days, so we are in ramp-up phase again," Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. "He will stay here and get on-court work with our staff and with our players from the (G League) and our two-way guys and things like that and try and get him ramped up as soon as we can."
James Harden should play this season, but the situation of how many games he will play, or if he will play for Philadelphia, will be unpredictable.
James Harden will play but will he be traded?
Considering the way Sixers team president Daryl Morey handled the Ben Simmons situation in 2021-22, James Harden likely will be traded, but it may take a lot of time before that happens. It seemed that if the blueprint of Simmons is followed, Morey will be asking a lot for Harden and will patiently wait for the right trade package before pulling the trigger.
According to ESPN's lead NBA insider, Adrian Wojnarowski, the LA Clippers are the only team that is taking the Harden trade seriously, but the negotiations have been stalled.
"(Clippers) are now going to start their season and see what this team looks like with a healthy Kawhi Leonard, a healthy Paul George," Wojnarowski said. "The Clippers may revisit this at some point, but they know they're the only bidder for James Harden. They're the only team that's made a serious offer. They don't want to bid against themselves."
With the edge on the Clippers' side as of the moment, this James Harden saga will likely be a tug-of-war that could last as long as the trade deadline in February.