Few franchises had a worse offseason than the Philadelphia 76ers this year. After James Harden created chaos during his China tour, the 76ers are likely to be losing out on the star guard’s services the next season. Despite all that, Joel Embiid and Daryl Morey seem to believe that the offseason was fun.
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A while back, during his Adidas tour in China, James Harden went rogue. Reports suggested that the Sixers front office would honor Harden’s trade request earlier this year. However, the 2018 Most Valuable Player had an outburst after no deal was facilitated by the front office.
Apart from calling Daryl Morey a ‘liar’, the veteran guard also refused to sign a Philly jersey for his fans in China. As things stand now, some other team is likely to pay Harden’s $35,640,000 salary for this upcoming season.
Joel Embiid and Daryl Morey had fun despite the James Harden fiasco
The last few days before the commencement of training camp have been eventful, to say the least. The Milwaukee Bucks pulled off an impressive trade recently and landed Damian Lillard in a blockbuster deal. In exchange, the Bucks dealt away Jrue Holiday and a few more assets to the Portland Trail Blazers. Only a few days later, the Boston Celtics acquired Holiday (a great replacement for Marcus Smart) by dealing Malcolm Brogdon and other assets to the Blazers.
Joel Embiid clearly seemed to have a great time looking at all the last-minute deals get finalized. Taking it to X, the 2023 MVP disclosed how he was enjoying the summer.
This off-season was fun lmao
This off-season was fun lmao
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 1, 2023
By liking Embiid’s tweet, Daryl Morey seemed to have agreed with his star player.
Morey likes Embiid’s most recent tweet pic.twitter.com/4W91all9nY
— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) October 2, 2023
The Sixers have had a decent offseason, in terms of player acquisitions. The Pennsylvania side managed to add Patrick Beverley, Danny Green, Mo Bamba, and Kelly Oubre Jr. to their squad. With talents such as Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tobias Harris, and Tyrese Maxey already on the roster, Nick Nurse’s boys can very well win it all next year.
The Philadelphia 76ers are a powerhouse in the East
The Philadelphia 76ers have a pretty stacked team. Keeping the drama aside, the franchise is led by their MVP duo of Joel Embiid and James Harden. Certainly, the Philadelphia 76ers have a good enough roster to compete for a Championship.
However, the East has never looked scarier. The Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks are two Eastern Conference franchises that have had an extremely successful offseason.
The Bucks are led by their new big three – Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Khris Middleton. Whereas, the Cs have a star-studded lineup featuring Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis.
Yes, it will be a difficult task to emerge victorious out of the East. However, if the Sixers do manage to fix their relationship with Harden, this task shouldn’t be an impossible one to achieve.
