Philadelphia 76ers: What a trade for James Harden might look like

What goes back to the Rockets in a trade for James Harden?

The Philadelphia 76ers have plenty of contracts that could go back to the Houston Rockets for matching purposes. For starters, some kind of star is likely going to be required by the Rockets in exchange, and Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons plus any other small or medium contract would satisfy this need.

In addition, Al Horford’s contract likely has the worst value on the roster (and perhaps the whole league) but the final year of his remaining three-year, $81 million contract is only guaranteed for $14.5 million of $26.5 million, which could provide some additional future cap relief.

So considering the Sixers don’t have much in the way of young talent on great rookie or value contracts, can Al Horford reasonably be the centerpiece of a trade for James Harden?

Heavens no.

Really, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons can’t be either. Neither are as good as Harden and while they provide some annual salary relief, their contracts run a respective five and three years, so the Rockets downgrade in talent and they also somehow lose future flexibility.

You begin to see the problem. The Rockets aren’t motivated to trade him anywhere, let alone do business with the master tradesman Daryl Morey, and even if they were shopping him, the Sixers don’t really have anything that they desire at this point.

Maybe near the trade deadline this situation may evolve, but currently, it’s entirely unlikely that the Rockets would want to play ball with the Sixers for James Harden.