Despite James Harden’s ‘$17,600,000’ Wishes, Tyronn Lue Refuses to ‘Take a Bait’ About 2018 MVP

The James Harden saga remains an ongoing fiasco, as rumors of his trade aspirations to the Los Angeles Clippers are still at large. Amidst this hubbub, the Clippers’ coach Tyronn Lue sneakily avoided taking bait from ESPN analyst Malika Andrews to comment on this issue. In a way, head coach Lue cheekily dodged tampering charges against him by not falling into the trap of expressing his opinions on this entire ordeal.

James Harden explicitly showed his interest in a $17,600,000 trade to the Clippers this off-season. However, to Harden’s dismay, the Philadelphia 76ers informed the star point guard that the trade talks with the Clippers could not materialize.

As per the Athletic’s Sam Amick, the Clippers are working ways with several teams to move pick swaps for additional draft capital, which would ensure a bolstering offer for the Sixers to consider a done deal.

Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue gives a sneaky response to the James Harden question

The Clippers and the Sixers have been entangled in the James Harden trade saga for almost the entirety of the off-season. Though Harden has returned to the 76ers’ training facility, he still hopes that a trade for him to the other side of Los Angeles soon materializes.

When ESPN analyst Malika Andrews asked the Clippers head coach Ty Lue about this saga, he closely avoided tampering allegations against him with his smart answer. He answered Andrews’ question with a simple response, “I don’t know.” Here is a clip of Ty Lue dodging a bullet, uploaded by Jamal Cristopher on X.

Besides this, the Sixers have already paid the Beard $18,000,000 in two installments after he opted for his $35,600,000 player option. The two $9,000,000 payments made on the 1st of July and October, consist of 50% of Harden’s contract pay structure for this season. As the season begins this month, Harden will be paid the remaining $17,600,000 by November 1.

Although James Harden is now frequenting the Sixers’ training camps, he still remains hopeful to join the Clippers. The Athletic’s Sam Amick reports that the Los Angeles side might be talking to several other teams to move pick swaps for additional draft capital. In this way, the Clippers are bolstering their chances of getting a done deal for the Harden trade.

James Harden and Daryl Morey had an ugly spat this off-season

This off-season has been tough for both James Harden and the Sixers front office. While on a tour of China, Harden publicly called out Sixers executive Daryl Morey as a liar, which earned him a whopping $100,000 fine from the NBA. After returning from his tour, Harden stuck to his stance and relayed that his relationship with Morey was now too late to repair.

Amidst this fiasco, James Harden faced a similar fate as Ben Simmons’ $19,000,000 setback during his time with the Sixers. If Harden decides to sit out on regular season games, he would have to pay $389,000 per game missed. Perhaps, knowing the consequences of such probable actions, we are now seeing Harden being a regular for the team’s training camps.

The Beard last showed up at the Sixers camp at Colorado State University, giving fans hope that Philadelphia will retain him for the upcoming season.