James Harden fails to report to Philadelphia 76ers media day

Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden did not report for media day at the team’s training facility in Camden, New Jersey. The news was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic, and confirmed by Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey moments later.

“He’s not here today. He continues to seek a trade, and we’re working with his representation to resolve it in the best way for the 76ers, and hopefully all parties,” Morey told members of the media.

“He’s on the roster. We’re excited for him to help us, if he chooses that. We’ve told him that we expect him to be here, and we’re handling it as such,” Morey continued. “We’re going to treat James like every other player on the roster, as is required by the CBA.”

The decision to skip media day is the latest escalation in the standoff between Harden and Morey, the Sixers’ president of basketball operations whose relationship with Harden dates back to 2012, when Morey acquired Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder and made him the centerpiece of the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets won nearly 64% of their regular-season games with Morey and Harden together in Houston, compiling a 413-233 record in eight seasons before Morey left following the conclusion of the 2019-20 season.

“I would say it was hard,” Morey said of the deterioration of his relationship with Harden. “I think there are many people who have worked with him for some time, but I’ve been right there with anyone else. Look, I think he’s a heck of a basketball player, I like him as a person. But it was hard.”

This standoff between the two longtime associates began on June 29th, when Harden unexpectedly opted into the final year of the two-year, $68 million contract he signed last summer. Harden then immediately demanded a trade out of Philadelphia, indicating that his preference was to play for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Morey said that the last time he spoke directly with Harden was earlier this summer, and that communications since then have been through Harden’s representation, at Harden’s request.

After initial discussions with the Los Angeles Clippers failed to gain any traction, the Sixers pulled Harden off of the trade market in mid-August, announcing that they plan to bring the disgruntled guard back for training camp and the start of the season. Harden responded two days later during a media event for Adidas when he publicly declared that “Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be part of an organization that he’s part of.”

When the NBA investigated what Harden was referring to when he called Morey a liar, they found that Harden was under the expectation that he would be immediately traded. The NBA fined Harden $100,000 for indicating that he “would not perform the services called for under his player contract.”

A recent video surfaced from a party Harden hosted at KAMP Houston that included a sign which also read “Daryl Morey is a liar.”

“I don’t think I have to interpret it. I think he said what he meant. I think that was well reported on,” Morey said when asked about Harden’s comments. “I haven’t responded to that because I think it falls flat on its face. I’ve had 20 years of working in the league, always followed through on everything. Every top agent knows that, everyone in the league knows. You can’t operate in this job without that.”

The flurry of player movement last week, which included blockbuster trades that saw Milwaukee land seven-time All-NBA guard Damian Lillard and the Celtics acquire two-time All-Star Jrue Holiday, provided a glimmer of hope the reinvigorated trade market could lead to a resolution of this saga, but serious conversations never materialized. That’s left the Sixers forced to deal with their disgruntled, absentee point guard while their chief rivals add all-star talent to their already more accomplished roster.

“Things need to play out. We feel strongly we have a winning team. We have a team that can win and make a lot of noise in the playoffs,” Morey said of his team’s chances. “I understand we need to prove that, but teams emerge. You go into last season, and, say, Miami and Denver, they were not even in the top three of teams that (people) thought could make the Finals. We have a lot of questions to answer. Obviously James is the big one.”

While Morey is directly involved in this standoff, and in many ways a spokesman for the team in this regard, there is nobody whose opinion matters more than that of Joel Embiid, the reigning MVP who tweeted “this off-season was fun lmao” following the news of the Celtics’ acquisition of Holiday.

Embiid, who has frequently called himself “Troel Embiid” in the past, looked to downplay that tweet today.

“I thought it was fun. I was just saying, the interactions around the league, guys getting traded left and right, teams getting better and better, making it tougher for every other team. I thought it was fun, just looking at the back and forth between fans. You know, you got Miami fans that are mad, and you got Milwaukee fans that are happy, and now you’ve got Boston fans that are happy, so that’s what I saw,” Embiid said, before pivoting to personal reasons that made his summer enjoyable. “Getting married was cool. It was fun to spend time with my family. So, to me, it was an A+ summer. I had a lot of fun.”

It doesn’t take much to infer that there was more behind the tweet, and how he feels about his team, about their chances to compete for a title, and the future of the franchise is top of mind for everyone involved in this situation.

“I feel like, at some point, if you want to win you need to have that consistency. I think that’s the next step for us. You see all the other teams — Denver just won a championship, they’ve been together for so many years. Golden State, they’ve been doing it for a long time — we need to be consistent. That’s the only thing that I’m focused on, and I think for us to win that’s what it’s going to take.”

For Embiid, this is the second time in three seasons that he’s had his primary running mate absent at the start of training camp. Given that turmoil, the continued failures to get out of the second round and the changes that other Eastern Conference contenders made to strengthen their rosters, it would be natural for Embiid to become frustrated.

“If every year is gonna be the same thing, if that doesn’t put you closer to winning a championship, that gets frustrating,” Embiid admitted. “But I also believe that it doesn’t matter who’s on the team, I’m always gonna believe that I have a chance to win. So it’s all up to me, really, to just go out there and try to do whatever it takes.

“I’m here in Philly. I love Philly. I’ve been here my whole career. It’s all about winning a championship,” Embiid continued. “If we were to win a championship it would be for the city and the fans, because they deserve it.”

It’s always possible that living through another season short-handed, as Embiid did back when Ben Simmons held out to start the 2021-22 season, might prove to be tougher than expected. But, at least today, Embiid doubled down on his commitment to the franchise, and to the city of Philadelphia.