A mere 113 days ago the 76ers regular season tipped-off against the New Orleans Pelicans. Since then the 76ers have played to a respectable 32-22 record. As it stands today they’re only 2.5 games out of 1st place in the Eastern Conference.
As we all know they’ve gotten this far without arguably their second best player Ben Simmons. Finally the waiting game is over and Simmons is out of town. Up against the final hours of the trade deadline Daryl Morey shipped Simmons to the Nets to acquire James Harden.
The details of the trade are as follows:
76ers receive: James Harden, Paul Millsap
Nets receive: Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, 2022 unprotected 1st round pick (can defer to 2023), 2027 1st round pick (top 8 protected through 2028; will become 2 second round picks if not conveyed).
A question I now ask is “Did the 76ers overpay?” I find myself believing that they did. Heading into the deadline I believed that the 76ers had most of the leverage. Harden expressed his desire to go to Philly, and he could become a free agent in the off-season. If the Nets didn’t trade Harden by the deadline they may have lost him for nothing. To include Curry and two 1st round picks might come back to haunt the 76ers.
Despite reaching further in their pockets than they should’ve the 76ers are a better team today than yesterday. One could argue that adding Harden gives the 76ers the best starting five in the NBA. Not only did Embiid finally find his Robin, but the rest of the team can fall in place. Harris no longer will be looked at to be a secondary scorer. Doc Rivers can now justify starting the offensive liability in Thybulle given the surplus of offense in the opening lineup. How about Tyrese Maxey? For as well as he’s done this year he’s just not the playmaker that should be running point in game 7 of the NBA Finals. Harden takes so much pressure off of every player on the 76ers.
Only time will tell if this trade is considered a success. At bare minimum a parade down Broad Street would deem the trade worthwhile. Anything short of getting Embiid and his city a NBA Championship is a failure. With adding an older Harden and trading away young assets the 76ers are selling out for now. The future is now and we finally get to find out whether or not it was a mistake to #TrustTheProcess.
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