Sixers

HARDEN/SIMMONS WATCH 2022: Daryl Morey Leveraging?

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Feb 8th, 2022 · 4:21 PM EST

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Sam Amick from The Athletic doing his best to douse the flames of James Harden-to-the-Sixers by the deadline:

Sources: There is no traction on a possible James Harden-Ben Simmons deal, but the Sixers – who are confident they can land Harden this summer – remain hopeful that the Nets' stance changes soonhttps://t.co/3hxRlR4DZS

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 8, 2022

Immediately I thought Sam Amick was just being a hater, but I was surprised to read this was actually a leverage article from Daryl Morey. This plan to acquire James Harden was directly copy & pasted from Daryl Morey himself.

From the story itself:

But in terms of the threat posed by the Sixers this summer, the prospect of them signing Harden outright is even more real than most likely realize. And the plan, sources say, would look like this …

Step 1: The Sixers trade Simmons and the three seasons remaining on his deal ($108.8 million combined) to a team with cap room in exchange for assets in return. Detroit, Orlando, and San Antonio already have the space, and teams like Memphis or the Rockets (who could waive and stretch John Wall) could get there fairly easily.

Step 2: Find a new home for Tobias Harris’ contract via trade, which would be challenging but likely not impossible. He’s owed a combined $79.4 million over the next two seasons. The Sixers could theoretically waive and stretch Harris as well (per our cap expert, Danny Leroux, that move would open up approximately $22.3 million in space).

Step 3: Sign Harden for either the max (starting salary of $42 million) or something close to it. And for anyone who’s hung up on the fact that the Sixers might struggle to get to Harden’s max number, consider this much: At this later stage of Harden’s career, he has made it abundantly clear that his focus is on the goal of winning a title. The belief in Philadelphia, sources say, is that he wouldn’t let $10 or $20 million (over the life of a deal) be a deal-breaker if he wanted to play for the Sixers.

This is movie villain shit from Daryl right here. You don’t want to answer my calls? Fine this is how I’m going to take him from you. It ain’t no fun when the rabbit’s got the gun. If I’m Sean Marks I’m shaking in my boots. Do you really think Daryl Morey doesn’t know how James Harden operates? He spent eight seasons with him in his prime. Gave him the richest contract in the league. It’s over Sean…

Kinkead: this would benefit clutch/Simmons too, anything to get him out of Philly and get Maxey (another Klutch client) paid