Courtside with Aaron is a regular column by Sports Editor Aaron Rigby.
It was three in the morning on October 31, and I had one of those moments where you would wake up, glance over your notification, and immediately fall back asleep soon thereafter. However, that was not the case this morning. The first notification was a Snapchat text from my best friend who simply wrote “harden” at 2:30 in the morning.
At that very moment, I knew something had happened, since he doesn’t watch basketball, unless it’s a Villanova college game. I scrolled down just a tad to find out that a bomb had been dropped on us; a bomb like no other bomb in the world, a “Woj bomb.”
The bomb which dropped on us at two in the morning delivered the breaking news of James Harden being traded away to the Los Angeles Clippers. Instead of going back to sleep, I started typing this piece at 4 a.m.
According to the greatest NBA news-breaker of all time, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (hence the name “Woj bomb”), the Los Angeles Clippers are acquiring Harden, and subsequently PJ Tucker, in a trade package that sends Marcus Morris, Nicholas Batum, Robert Covington, KJ Martin and multiple draft picks and a pick swap to the Phildelphia 76ers.
My initial reaction to the trade was that the Sixers got fleeced. Maybe “fleeced” is a little harsh, but they certainly did not get the better end of this deal. And honestly it was not due to the fact that the Sixers did not get a star player in return; I do not think Harden is worth giving up a star player for at this point in his career. It was due to the fact that they held on to James for months because Daryl Morey, the Philadelphia 76ers general manager, had a few sticking points for this trade and didn’t want to move away from acquring Terrance Mann and at least one first round pick. However, when we were three games into the season, and the Sixers were off to a 2-1 start (they are 5-1 at the time of publication), Morey decides that he actually now doesn’t want Mann. Instead, he would rather get a few aging pieces to surround his frustrated superstar Joel Embiid, along with a 2028 unprotected first round pick.
Keep in mind that Embiid most likely won’t be in Philly 5 years from now unless they can get past the second-round.
After a minute or two, I actually dove into the trade details and each player involved. The most notable player in this trade for me initially was Robert Covington, and not because he is the best player Philadelphia acquired in this trade, but because this will now be his second stint with the Sixers.
Covington was a member of the Sixers from 2014 until 2018, when he was traded away to the Minnesota Timberwolves as a member of the package put together in order to acquire Jimmy Butler. In only three games this season, Covington has an average of three points, three rebounds and two assists in an average of 23 minutes played each game. It’s not far-fetched to say that Covington has declined since his playing time in Philly, and he should not be expected to produce at the same level he did 6 years ago. However, RoCo is still a player who will attract defenders away from the paint, and with his shooting ability, Embiid has another player he can confidently kick it out to when he is inevitably triple teamed in the paint.
Nicholas Batum has played all three games so far this season, two of which he scored a donut, and one he scored only eight points despite being on the floor for a total of 30 minutes.
Marcus Morris is yet to play a game this season as he has been out for personal reasons. Last season, Morris averaged 11 points, four rebounds and two assists. Morris is a player I presume will come off the bench behind Tobias Harris and Kelly Oubre, and will put up solid stats off the bench and potentially be the first option for their second unit.
KJ Martin is a pickup I like for Philly, a young upcoming forward who will play well alongside Marcus Morris in the second unit. Martin had also been a player who had had a relatively healthy career. He played all 82 games last season, averaging 13 points, six rebounds and two assists. In the 2021-22 season, Martin missed only three games in the season, playing 79 in his sophomore year. Martin could potentially be a piece the Sixers look to build around with Maxey if both players continue to improve on their career trajectory.
Essentially, the Sixers traded away what was supposed to be their ticket to success a few years past, for a couple of decent role players. This, if you ask me, is a sign of decay for the process and just a matter of time before their superstar Embiid decides he has had enough with “the process.”
That is of course, unless Morey and the Sixers front office can find a way to trade the assets for a star level player.
There is real potential that I’m wasting time and losing sleep writing this for no reason because there is some speculation that the Sixers are already seeking to flip these assets for another player.
In his trade breakdown article, Adrian Wojnarowski said, “Ths Sixers had wanted to get two first-round picks out of a Harden trade, and believe that those assets — occupied with the second-round picks and a pick swap — give them a chance to pursue another high-level guard to partner with MVP Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey this season.”
In the end, the short lived James Harden Era is over in Philadelphia. As I predicted perfectly, no further goals were reached, as the Sixers traded a playoff underperformer for another playoff underperformer.
It is now going to be the Era of Maxey and Embiid, and if Maxey can continue to play at the level he has played at for the first three games of the season, the Sixers may have a superstar on their hands that has been overlooked for the first few years of his career, playing behind and alongside various disgruntled guards.
