Philadelphia 76ers theory: Did Daryl Morey have a deal with the Kings?

Daryl Morey did it; he really did it: He got the Philadelphia 76ers James Harden.

Did he give up too much in the deal? Some seem to think so, but considering the package Morey almost shipped to the Houston Rockets 13 months prior, securing an All-Pro player for two role players, two protected first-round picks, and a three-time All-Star who refused to ever take the court for the team ever again was hardly the most head-scratching deal of trade deadline day.

No, that honor goes to the Sacramento Kings, who traded away their best overall prospect, Tyrese Haliburton, plus Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson for Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, and a 2023 second-round draft pick.

Is that deal a headscratcher? You bet, few expected to see Haliburton moved at the trade deadline considering his sky-high ceiling, but hey, the Kings really wanted to make a deal, and considering De’Aaron Fox wasn’t exactly moving mountains on the trade market, cashing out on the NBA’s other Tyrese was their best opportunity to avoid yet another summer without playoff basketball at the Golden 1 Center.

You know… what if the reason the Sacramento Kings made such an immediately panned deal wasn’t because they are an inherently bad franchise with poor decision-making, but instead because they had to pivot at the 11th hour to a different deal after the Philadelphia 76ers pulled out of trade talks centered around Tyrese Haliburton once it became clear James Harden was available? Mind you, this is only a theory but hey, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and this take is pretty toasty.

Did the Philadelphia 76ers have a deal in the running with the  Kings?

On a recent episode of The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, Daryl Morey talked the show’s hosts through the Philadelphia 76ers’ trade deadline thought process. Morey hinted at a buyout target, how James Harden came to become a Sixer, and how excited he is about the team’s current roster, but snuck in there ever so delicately was the veritable bombshell that the Sixers had a second deal in place for Ben Simmons that could have taken place just before the deadline.

Here is a quote from James Herbert of CBS Sports‘ piece on the matter that features not one but two quotes from the man himself.

"“Obviously, lots of options that we had to consider,” Morey said on the podcast. “I think anytime you lock in one path, one scenario, you get in trouble in this league. And it’s those other options that allow you to make the right deals and things like that. So I would say we had one other — I would call it almost a very good option that we liked, but then it looked like the James thing could happen, so.”Morey said that, “maybe three or four days out,” Philadelphia “pretty heavily explored” this mystery deal. “And then, for reasons that would reveal who i’m talking about, I can’t really say why it sort of shifted, but it shifted.”"

Alright, alright, alright, a lot to unpack here. So what do we know? For one thing, the Sixers had another option in place they really liked in place had Harden remained off the block. We also learned that Morey couldn’t describe who was involved in the deal because it would reveal who he was talking about, and eventually, the Sixers had to shift their attention elsewhere.

Hmm… okay, so what couldn’t Morey say why the team changed course? If said player ultimately wasn’t traded, he wouldn’t have needed to preface his comment with such specific verbiage because the vast majority of the NBA’s players weren’t traded. Assuming that is, in fact, the reason why Morey opted against discussing the deal further – plus, you know, tampering – that leaves a very select collection of players who could have been the player in question.

Okay, so what else did we learn from Morey? Well, he couldn’t say why the team’s attention shifted, only that it did shift and allowed the team to fully lock in on Harden or bust at the trade deadline. Could it be because the player at the center of said conversation was traded two days before the association’s February 10th deadline?

If that’s the case, the only logical trade target Morey could be talking about is none other than Tyrese Haliburton, who was ultimately traded to the Indiana Pacers two days before the trade deadline.

I mean, think about it, a Tyrese Maxey-Haliburton trade made perfect sense for the Sixers. The duo complimented each other perfectly on the court, were selected in the same draft class, and could have theoretically split the point guard minutes much like the team’s current pairing will once Harden takes the court. Assuming Joel Embiid signed off on Haliburton joining the team’s new core, a deal centered around the second-year guard would have been a no-brainer, especially since additional assets would have surely been included in the deal.

Sort of makes sense, right? But wait, it gets better. On a recent episode of The Long Shot podcast, Georges Niang mentioned a conversation he had with his fellow former Iowa State product on February 8th, where he initially assumed that he would be traded to the Sixers, only for Kings general manager Monte McNair to inform him that a deal with the Indiana Pacers was going through.

Did Haliburton simply read too much Section 215 and come to believe that Philly was his logical landing spot? Or was his big performances at the Wells Fargo Center truly of the “trade for me” variety, and Philly really was his preferred destination? Either way, when two different parties brought up complementary stories that in no way benefited them personally for the sake of genuine clarity, a picture sort of comes into focus ever so slightly. Had the Brooklyn Nets pulled out in the 11th hour and Haliburton was still a member of the Kings, maybe McNair would have swooped in and ponied up enough assets to get a deal done, but we will never truly know if that was ultimately the case, as Harden hit the block and the Kings pivoted to the Pacers to securing a playmaking big who complimented the players left on Sacramento’s roster.

Who knows, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the Philadelphia 76ers had some sort of deal in place with the Dallas Mavericks, the Portland Trail Blazers, or the San Antonio Spurs, and each franchise’s decision to trade Kristaps Porzingis, C.J. McCollum, and Derrick White respectively is the reason why they bowed out of the Ben Simmons race, but you know what, I sort of doubt it. No, the Sacramento Kings were always the most logical destination for BS because of their potent mix of picks, players, and an ownership group mandating a playoff appearance; if James Harden didn’t become available, a deal centered around Tyrese Haliburton might have just been good enough to make a move right on the spot. … or not, until Daryl Morey eventually spills the beans down the line, we will for have to wonder “What if” while watching one of the most exciting Sixers teams of, well, of ever.