The James Harden saga in Philadelphia is far from over, so where does Joel Embiid stand and will he remain at the franchise in the future?
The reigning league MVP is sticking with the franchise through the whole mess, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
“Thus far, Embiid has given the franchise assurances he is OK riding out the current drama with Harden, sources said,” Shelburne said. “How long he gives them to resolve the matter remains to be seen.”
Budding young star Tyrese Maxey is also in a similar boat to Embiid, Shelburne believes.
“Maxey has done the same, even waiting on a contract extension this summer so the franchise can preserve its ability to operate under the salary cap and improve the team in the future.
“Both have been in touch with Harden throughout, maintaining their personal relationships. Embiid even invited Harden to his wedding in July, sources said.”
Another NBA insider, Zach Lowe shared similar sentiments to Shelburne and maintains that despite the Harden’s fractured relationship with Philly’s front office staff, his relationship with his teammates is still intact.
“I have heard that his relationships with his teammates remain good,” Lowe said on The Lowe Post. “He likes playing with Embiid, although there’s obviously been this push and pull of like, do I get to play Harden ball or do I have to play set up Embiid ball? I think the reporting that his initial meetings with Nick Nurse went well, is legit, like there are parts of that organization that he likes. So it’ll be very interesting to see.”
In case you have been living under a rock, Harden requested a trade away from Philly, who encouraged him to opt-in so that they could figure out a trade.
They couldn’t get the assets they wanted from Harden’s preferred destination – the Clippers, so the franchise pulled the idea to trade Harden altogether.
This led to Harden becoming pretty angry and publicly calling out Sixers president. He called Morey a liar and vowed to never play under him again.
Harden’s goal seems to be to make things so uncomfortable that the team has no choice but to trade him.
He even posted an IG story confirming as much.