CAMDEN, N.J. — According to Daryl Morey, the Sixers would again prefer to keep James Harden in Philadelphia.
Just like last summer, Harden’s uncertain future is a major offseason item for the Sixers following a second-round playoff defeat.
“We can’t have those discussions yet,” Morey said at a press conference Wednesday, “but we are interested in bringing him back.”
The Sixers’ president of basketball operations fielded questions a day after the team fired Doc Rivers as its head coach.
Morey did not offer much detail on why he chose to dismiss Rivers besides the Sixers again failing to get beyond the second round. However, he did push back on the notion that Harden’s relationship with Rivers was a significant factor in the firing.
“Our relationship is OK,” is all Harden had to say about Rivers after the Sixers’ Game 7 loss to the Celtics.
“Obviously, it’s the business we’re in that players and coaches have to give these instant answers,” Morey said. “I get the benefit of a couple days between the toughest situation that the players have faced in a long time and giving answers to you today. I think people make too much of those snap answers right after a loss like that.
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“I think Doc had great relationships with his players. We wouldn’t have had the success we had without it. His relationship with both Joel (Embiid) and James was very strong. I think people saw that chemistry on the court between the three of them. That was something that was not an issue.”
Still, no star and head coach are fully aligned at all times. Harden and Rivers talked throughout the season about which lineups the Sixers should use when Embiid sat. Rivers said last month that Harden initially wanted to play alongside former Rockets teammate Montrezl Harrell before recognizing the Sixers needed more defense in those units and gaining confidence in 23-year-old big man Paul Reed.
After the Sixers’ Embiid-less Round 1, Game 4 win over the Nets, Harden spoke about “sacrificing” this season to help the team.
“I told myself this year I’m big on sacrifice, whether it’s the money or my role — just letting everything go, sacrificing, and seeing what it gives me,” Harden said that night. “I’m not the type of person that’s naive. … I’m a sponge. I listen, and I can just go out there and be for the betterment of the team.
“Throughout the entire year, people expect me to be the scoring James Harden and the James Harden that goes out there and gets 40, 50 points. And then people talk: ‘Oh, you can’t win like that.’ I go out there and get 20 points, 11 assists, and it’s like, ‘Oh, he’s not the old James Harden anymore.’
“So there’s always going to be something to say. I think about my role and what I can control to impact this team the best that I can every single night. And sacrifice is a word that I’m going to continue to use for this year and see where it gets me.”
The fluctuations in Harden’s playoff performances make it trickier to project the specifics of his next contract. He has a $35.6 million player option for the 2023-24 season. Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes reported Wednesday that Harden plans to decline his option and seek a four-year contract.
Haynes reported that Harden “will only entertain suitors that present a competitive roster and the basketball freedom for the star to be himself.”
Morey again sounds like he believes Harden will choose the Sixers, though he acknowledged that’s not guaranteed.
“We have to plan for every scenario,” Morey said. “He has the option to be a free agent, and so we have to plan for all those scenarios. We feel like (Harden leaving) is a scenario where we can continue to move forward.
“Look, we have to remember there’s like 26 teams that would rather have our roster. We’re starting with the MVP of the league. The draft lottery yesterday was hoping to get a top pick to hope that player becomes as good as the MVP of the league. So we start in a great spot and yeah, we have a lot of free agents, so we’re going to lose some free agents. There’s some key ones we’d like to bring back. But we feel good about the alternate scenarios as well.
“Scenario A would be to bring James back. Scenario B, if he’s not back, will be we’ll have to get creative. And we feel good about the tools available to us if that happens.”