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With James Harden breaking his silence this past weekend on his relationship with Philadelphia 76ers GM Daryl Morey, we somehow know even less than before — although that likely will be the case until Harden is traded.
Speaking to reporters in Philly, Harden all but said he wants a divorce.
"This is in life. When you lose trust in someone, it's like a marriage," he said.
Do you think is something that can be repaired?
Harden: “No.”
Why?
Harden: “This is not even about in this situation, this is in life. When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage. You lose trust in someone, you know what I mean? It’s pretty simple.” pic.twitter.com/NC3vslbd5T
— PHLY Sixers (@PHLY_Sixers) October 13, 2023
Setting aside that there might not be less of an expert on the institution of marriage, what exactly is Harden's end game? The best option still will be to stay in Philly even if it ends in an inevitable second-round playoff bounce.
Morey, on the other hand, has managed to stay pretty silent on the whole matter — which is impressive for him, seeing as he's one of the chattier GMs in the NBA. If we are keeping this marriage metaphor going, I guess you can say that Morey is refusing to sign the divorce papers and admit that love is dead. I mean, he is giving Harden $35.6 million this year, so that's got to make the relationship even a little repairable — there's not a lot of things that millions and millions of dollars can't fix.
What this comes down to is they need each other an equal amount. And they've had their wagons hitched to each other since 2012, when Morey made the trade that turned Harden into a star and made himself look like a genius. Throughout the MVPs, incredible scoring runs and 27 straight missed threes (yikes), the one constant has always been that those two would have each other's back.
At the very least, they have to put on a fake smile and stay together for the kids (I'm talking about Joel Embiid) (this metaphor is falling apart). It's just a matter of time before last season's most valuable player adds his 2 cents to this whole saga; and if it ends with getting sent home again this summer, the Sixers organization might not like what he says. There's a lot of time before a decision will be made on what to do with Harden. My hope is that after the deadline in February and he's still a Sixer, we'll know that love is alive and well.
