Harden gets wish, traded to Clippers in blockbuster deal

James Harden is onto his fourth team in fifth seasons as his trade request was fulfilled on Monday evening with a blockbuster move from the Philadelphia 76ers to the LA Clippers.

Despite talking since July, the move was only made on Monday, a week into the new season with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting it first. Official confirmation is still pending from both organisations.

Harden goes to the Clippers alongside PJ Tucker and Filip Petrusev.

In return, the 76ers get Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nic Batum, KJ Martin, a 2028 unprotected first-round pick, 2029 pick swap, two second-round picks and another first-round pick that will come from a third, currently unnamed team.

The report from ESPN said that the Clippers and the aforementioned third team were still in negotiations on Monday evening.

Meanwhile, the Sixers will waive Danny Green to be compliant with the cap.

Harden, a California native, will reunite with former Oklahoma City Thunder team-mate Russell Westbrook as well as the All-Star front court duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

The Clippers have started 2-1 in the new season and they are pushing to try and get further in the playoffs after they were dumped out in the first round by the Phoenix Suns 4-1 last year.

Since the Clippers paired Leonard and George together in the titanic summer of 2019, they have just one conference finals appearance to their name.

“James Harden can’t come back to Philly, the fans aren’t going to have it,” he told TNT Sports.

“When you play for a team, you have an obligation to the fanbase. He didn’t show up to work for 10 days. You can’t just take time off because you’re unhappy and you’re not getting traded.

“Daryl Morey screwed this up too. James Harden has got one year left on his deal, so the notion he’s going to get a bucket full of picks and players is false,” he explained.

“They have a guy who’s only going to be on that team for one year – he’s not going to get a good deal.

“Now there’s nothing they can do, and he will probably get a couple of bench players for James.

“This is the third year in a row that James has demanded out. You think a team is going to give him a long-term deal? Hell no!”

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