Philadelphia 76ers: James Harden jumped from a sinking ship

In January of 2021, there were two teams who wanted James Harden and wanted him bad: The Philadelphia 76ers and the New York Nets.

Now at the time, both options made some sense; the Sixers had just hired Daryl Morey, the man who brought Harden to Houston in the first place, and adding the then-eight-time All-Star seemed like an ideal fit next to Joel Embiid moving forward – which ultimately proved to be true.

And as for the Nets? Well, after things didn’t quite work out between Russell Westbrook and James Harden in Houston, maybe an OKC reunion in Brooklyn between two former league MVPs would have been more effective, especially with Kyrie Irving already in place.

Well, in an interesting twist of fate, both teams actually ended up trading for “The Beard” and they exchanged a small fortune of picks, swaps, and players to make it happen. Will the Philadelphia 76ers ultimately win it all with Harden on their roster? Only time will tell, but after having Harden in their building for just over a year, it looks like the Nets are heading for a brutal ending, as discussions between Kyrie Irving and the franchise have reportedly hit an impasse and he might just test the open market instead of an extended stay in Brooklyn.

The Philadelphia 76ers-Brooklyn Nets rivalry may be over before it even began.

When the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets swapped Ben Simmons and James Harden – plus a few more pieces thrown in for good measure -at the 2022 NBA trade deadline, it was supposed to create the Eastern Conference’s next great rivalry.

On paper, the feud had everything going for it; Harden and Kyrie Irving didn’t seem to like each other, the pairing of Simmons and Joel Embiid had grown incredibly contentious, and the swap theoretically solved the biggest need on either team both in the short and long-term. Factor in the general disdain for Simmons and Harden among each team’s respective fanbase and everything was lining up for a seriously entertaining rivalry connected by intertwined roots and I-95.

The problem? It never happened; and if Irving leaves, the bite of a future full of Sixers-Nets bouts loses much of its fangs.

When the Sixers took on the Nets for their fourth and final game of the regular season, a game that cost a ton of money to attend, Simmons didn’t play – though he was on the sidelines – and the Sixers were effectively blown out in front of a crowd looking to boo the opposing team, not their own guys.

And then, after flirting with a potential first round fight in the playoffs, the Sixers and Nets narrowly missed each other in the seeding, with Brooklyn ending up seventh and Philly finishing fourth.

Had Simmons taken the court and given it his all who knows, maybe Brooklyn upsets Boston and the playoff picture looks a whole lot different but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. No, in a twist of fate that Philly fans know all too well, Simmons opted against taking the court and got the Nets so heated that some suggested they could trade the three-time All Star before he even takes the court in a black white and Gray uniform.

If Irving leaves and Kevin Durant wants to continue to fight for his third professional franchise, then a Simmons trade may provide the ammunition needed to make it happen, but if he too wants out, then Brooklyn may find themselves with a “Process” of their own, with Simmons either filling the role of Jrue Holiday or, well, Ben Simmons.

Either way, unless Simmons stays and forms a formidable duo with Durant, it’s safe to say this feud is at best hanging on by a thread and at worst done altogether.

In the NBA, sometimes trades just don’t work. Sometimes one party thinks they’re getting a good deal but ultimately is proven wrong and they regret saying yes to the deal for years to come. That happened to the Brooklyn Nets in 2013, when they traded a king’s ransom for the foundations of Doc Rivers’ lone championship winning team and unfortunately, it might have happened again thanks to the decision to trade for and then trade away James Harden. And all because they didn’t want to see “The Beard” on the Philadelphia 76ers, too; wild.