Sixers

James Harden Now Being Linked to the Phoenix Suns

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jun 8th, 2023 · 4:10 PM EDT

---

Dave Early at Liberty Ballers transcribed a portion of a Ramona Shelburne interview from the Mason & Ireland ESPN Radio Show:

“[The Phoenix Suns don’t waive Chris Paul] unless they feel pretty good about somebody else. And I want you to keep your eye on James Harden. I don’t want to report anything, but that was in the wind for the past month or so. Everybody thinks it’s like Philly or Houston but I don’t know, there has been discussions in the wind.”

There was another tweet dating back to mid-May mentioning the Suns:

With free agency pending for James Harden, I’m hearing there is another team prominently on is radar in addition to Houston. That team is the Phoenix Suns.

— Brian Geltzeiler (@BGeltzNBA) May 15, 2023

Right, so the Suns would have fired Monty Williams, waived Chris Paul, hired Frank Vogel, and brought in Harden to play alongside Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Deandre Ayton. We’d have to go back and dig through a bunch of Nets bullshit over the last two seasons to see if Durant and Harden even enjoyed the very brief time they played together to see if this move makes sense. Phoenix would also have to do some cap maneuvering to put it all together, since the four main pieces would all be earning a lot of money.

It’s interesting to think about though. All of the Harden talk has centered on the Sixers and Rockets, but he can opt out and play anywhere.