Feb 13, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden (1) during warmups against the Houston Rockets at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
James Harden recently accused Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey of lying to him, and there is a chance the team could face disciplinary action if that proves to be true.
While speaking at an Adidas-sponsored event in China on Monday, Harden called Morey a “liar” and said he will never play for another team that is associated with the executive. You can see the video here.
Harden has not revealed what it is that Morey supposedly lied about. The former MVP’s gripe seems to be that Morey promised him a year ago that the Sixers would give Harden a long-term max contract extension this summer. Harden signed a new 2-year deal with Philly last offseason and took a $15 million pay cut. He may have done so believing that he would be taken care of with a max deal 12 months down the road.
The question is whether Morey actually made that promise. According to NBA reporter Marc Stein, there have been calls for the league to investigate what — if anything — Morey lied about. If it is determined that Morey made a contractual promise to Harden and did not follow through, the Sixers would be subject to NBA discipline.
Another theory is that Morey lied by telling Harden he would trade him after Harden exercised his $35.6 million player option. That would not be enough to trigger league discipline even if it did happen, according to Stein. Moreover, it seems more likely that Harden exercised the player option and demanded a trade in response to Morey not following through on the max contract.
The situation will probably boil down to Harden’s word versus the team’s. If there is no actual proof of a max contract promise, discipline is unlikely.
Harden says he is not open to playing for the 76ers again, but he may run into a significant issue if he continues his holdout.
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