What's the Sixers' plan? Morey discusses Harden, Embiid, and the future 

Daryl Morey aimed Tuesday to explain the logic behind his offseason approach. 

In an extended interview with 97.5 The Fanatic’s Anthony Gargano, the Sixers’ president of basketball operations addressed essentially every major storyline with the team this summer, laying out his thoughts on James Harden, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and more.

Below are the key points:

Seeking a ‘win-win’ with Harden  

The gist of Harden’s situation has been clear for the past few weeks. 

Morey confirmed on the record Tuesday that the 33-year-old guard would indeed like the Sixers to trade him, and that Morey doesn’t plan to do so unless he feels the move would truly benefit the team.

“James is a very good player,” Morey said. “Right now, unfortunately, he does prefer to be somewhere else. I do have a long relationship with him. I’m attempting to honor that. But the reality is, if we do look at a trade, it’s going to be for one of two things: It’s either going to be for a player who continues to help us be right there — like we were last year, up 3-2 (in Round 2 of the playoffs) on one of the best teams in the East, the Celtics. Obviously, we didn’t get it done, but James was a big part of why we got it to 3-2. Or we’re going to do it for something where we get enough draft picks and things like that in a deal such that we can then turn those into a player who can be a running mate with Joel as well. 

“But if we don’t get either a very good player or something that we can turn into a very good player, then we’re just not going to do it. And if James were to turn his mind around, we would all be thrilled; you heard Joel’s comments about that. But at this moment, he does prefer to be traded and we’re attempting to honor that.”

Gargano asked for Morey’s understanding of why Harden, who exercised his $35.6 million player option for next season, wants to be dealt. 

“Look, he was wishing for a different situation contractually,” Morey said, “and I think that’s the main desire for looking for a new situation. At this point, if we can do something that is a win-win, then we will look at it. And if we can’t, then we won’t.”

Those remarks suggest an extended stalemate is quite possible.

“Trades are hard to do in this league,” Morey said, “so the best bet is trades won’t happen (this offseason). But look, it won’t be for lack of trying. We’re going to look at every possibility when (it) becomes available. If we can do it, we’ll do it.”

Future considerations

So far, the Sixers this summer have almost completely avoided making any contractual commitments past the upcoming season. 

In terms of potential rotation players under contract for 2024-25, there’s Embiid, PJ Tucker (player option), and Paul Reed, whose salary of approximately $7.7 million would be fully guaranteed if the Sixers won at least one playoff round. Jaden Springer’s fourth-year club option is $4 million. 

There’s nothing to note beyond that. Georges Niang, Shake Milton, and Jalen McDaniels have each signed multi-year contracts with new teams. 

“I personally wouldn’t call it a two-year plan, because I think Joel’s in his prime,” Morey said. “But I do, in my job, have to keep an eye to the future. Obviously, we’ve lost some depth this year. We were one of the deepest teams in the league. … But a lot of the guys who didn’t play for us last year, when they played we actually played some of our best ball — someone like a (Danuel House Jr.). We are excited about what Pat Beverley brings to this team. We’re very excited about what Coach (Nick) Nurse brings. 

“But a lot of the depth we lost, if we had done something to bring them back, it would have hurt our ability to compete down the road. So what we’re attempting to do is have the best team possible this year but also have the ability that, if we get into a next-season situation, to be a very unique team. With the most cap room of a team that’s as good as us ... that’s a very unique situation to have.

“The new CBA really kicks in next year. The new CBA next year is going to put massive constraints downward on salaries in the league. So us being the only team with a top player that a player can join is going to put us in a very unique situation. So I wouldn’t call it a two-year plan. It’s just more that we’re trying to win in this season coming up, but we have to keep an eye on how we’re going to compete going forward as well.” 

One important aspect of that stated goal to excel in both the present and future is the Sixers’ decision to not yet extend Maxey.

Unsurprisingly, Morey described that choice as unrelated to the team’s belief that Maxey is an excellent young player fully capable of continued growth. 

“I don’t want to limit Maxey, frankly, because he’s beaten expectations since we drafted him in the early 20s,” Morey said. “Every year he’s advanced more than people thought, whether it be with his shot … his defense improved last year. He definitely has All-Star ability. That’s why we want to make sure that we can set ourselves up to have multiple All-Stars.

“The reason to not extend him — and we’ve shared this with his representation, and they understand — is, because of the quirk of the CBA, we will be able to add a significant player next year before we extend Maxey. And he’ll be a cornerstone once we do that, and with the franchise for a very long time.”

‘A very Joel day’ 

Embiid drew considerable attention on Monday for his recent interview at the Uninterrupted Film Festival. 

“I just want to win a championship — whatever it takes,” he said. “I don’t know where that’s going to be, whether that’s in Philly or anywhere else.” 

As that line spread on social media, Embiid tweeted a reminder that his username his “Joel ‘Troel’ Embiid.”

“Yeah, he had some fun with that yesterday,” Morey said. “That was a very Joel day yesterday.”

Morey indicated that Embiid remains on board with the Sixers and wasn’t intending to insinuate anything like a potential looming trade request. 

“He made those comments a bunch of days ago at sort of a semi-private event; they just got published,” Morey said. “I spoke to him at length yesterday. He spoke to Coach Nurse yesterday. He’s very excited. Coach Nurse is planning to do some innovative things for training camp that Joel’s excited about.

“Look, part of it’s just, at the end of the day, he’s talking about the business of the NBA. In his mind, he wants to win here. He wants to win it for Philly. That’s the only place he wants to win. He absolutely was referencing that it’s not totally in his control where he is at all times.”

As to the question of what sort of player is the ideal No. 2 star next to Embiid, Morey didn’t entirely deflect. 

“Look, I think an elite on-ball — who can play both on ball and off ball — wing is really the perfect complement,” he said. “I think (former Sixers head coach Doc Rivers) and Joel really unlocked a new spot on the floor. In that free-throw line extended area, middle of the floor, it was hard to double. This year coming up, I think Nick and Joel are going to unlock some more areas, whether that be around the paint, out to the three-point line. 

“One of Nick’s big (goals) is to make us less predictable, make us more versatile. And I think you saw in his Toronto teams how he tries to make it very difficult for other teams to game plan for us.”

Backup bigs galore 

The notion that backup center matters for the Sixers isn’t controversial. 

However, Morey recognizes that the team's current volume of players at the position could very easily be viewed as excessive. Embiid, Reed, Mo Bamba, Montrezl Harrell, Tucker, and Filip Petrušev have all previously spent time at center. 

“I only joke about it with our fanbase because they sort of can’t make up their mind,” Morey said. “They were sort of obsessed with who Joel’s backup was for years, and now that we’re actually adding players that we think can shore up that position, now they’re bothered. But it’s actually all in good fun. Look, most of these bigs we’ve brought in are multi-positional; they’re not just single-position. A lot of them are two-ways or future bets that we made years ago that actually help our flexibility going forward. 

“Petrušev would be an example of that. And Petrušev, again, when I talk multi-position, he (didn’t) play center in the top league away from the NBA; he played (power forward). So long story short, it’s all in fun that we have 25 centers or whatever people want to say. … They’re either spacing fives or guys who play different positions or two-ways. So at the end of the day, Paul Reed is a core big, we’re excited about what Mo Bamba can bring us, and obviously Joel Embiid, let’s hope people are OK with counting him as a center.”

Morey also highlighted Nurse’s inclination toward experimentation.

“He’s very excited to try these guys out in different defensive arrays,” he said. “Whether or not it works, even he says, ‘I’m not sure.’ He needs to get a better sense, as we go through training camp and he works individually with guys in the offseason. But I know he’s looking at different zone arrangements. … Both on offense and defense, I think versatility will be a big theme for him this year.

“Using all the length; using Joel in different ways defensively and offensively; using a disruptive, multi-position defender like a Paul Reed; using the length of, say, a Mo Bamba. He’s looking at very different, creative ways to use all the folks we’ve already brought in.”

‘Trying to move up’ for Whitmore? 

Although Morey didn’t discuss specific players on other teams, he seemed to strongly hint that the Sixers attempted to trade up in this year’s NBA draft for Cam Whitmore, a Villanova product. 

Whitmore, who was named NBA summer league MVP on Monday, unexpectedly slid to the Houston Rockets at No. 20. 

“It’s very, very hard to predict these guys,” Morey said. “That’s why you see mistakes in the draft and why you see guys like Maxey falling to 21. There were other prominent players that fell in this year’s draft that we were trying to move up for. I couldn’t understand why they were falling, because I had seen them play live multiple times here in town.”  

That sure sounds like Whitmore. 

The Sixers made no selections on draft night and agreed to two-way contracts with undrafted rookies Terquavion Smith, Ricky Council IV, and Ąžuolas Tubelis.