NBA Trades: 5 winners and losers of the Sixers-Clippers Harden deal
By Cal Durrett
NBA Trade Losers: Darryl Morey
Sixer President Darryl Morey has established himself as one of the best executives in the NBA at making trades, dating back to his time as GM of the Houston Rockets. However, this deal doesn’t look great in the short term. Trading his second-best player in a deal for a couple of firsts, a second, and three expirings is a decent return.
But while he can flip those assets for another star, he shares some of the blame for Harden demanding a trade. Last summer, Harden opted out of his contract and agreed to sign a team-friendly deal with the understanding he would be compensated this past summer.
That didn’t happen, and Harden agreed to opt into his final year of his contract to be traded to the Clippers, only for Morey to back out of trade talks, leading Harden to publicly call him a liar. To be clear, Harden didn’t handle the situation well but it is possible that Morey may have misled him.
Whether he did or didn’t, the result is the same. Morey was forced to deal Harden to his destination of choice without receiving a star in return.