About ten days before the start of the NBA regular season, the James Harden case has not yet been resolved. The Bearded Man still wants to leave the Sixers, the Clippers remain interested in his services, but the negotiations are not really moving forward. So the Los Angeles franchise is looking for a way to resolve the situation.
The latest update on the James Harden case comes to us from Adrian Wojnarowski ofESPN, always very well informed behind the scenes of the League. If we are to believe Woj, the Clips are currently working in the shadows to gain flexibility in relation to what they can offer to the Sixers, who want to obtain the best possible consideration in exchange for the Bearded.
“What the Clippers are trying to do is see if their 2028 first-round pick (unprotected) has enough value in the eyes of some teams to get multiple first-round picks in trade. […] Very soon, the Clippers could contact the Sixers again with several possible scenarios, saying: ‘if the 2028 pick does not suit you, is there a combination of picks, with pick swaps, which is more interesting for you? YOU ?’.”
This 2028 pick is the first first-round pick that the Clippers can offer in a transfer. Given the current situation in Los Angeles, which is betting almost everything on the short term, we cannot exclude a scenario in which the Californian franchise has fallen significantly in the rankings in five years. If this is the case, the 2028 first round pick will become very valuable, hence this possibility of recovering two (protected) first round picks in exchange in order to offer them to the Sixers.
Not sure, however, that all this will move the lines.
Indeed, at the moment, the Clippers do not need to “go all-in” on Harden knowing that no other franchise is in the race to get him, they who can very well be content to start the season with the current team. In addition, Los Angeles would not intend to let go of Terance Mann in a deal with the Sixers according to Adrian Wojnarowski, which makes a potential transaction even more complicated knowing that Philly is interested in Mann’s services.
In the end, if James Harden still remains on the Clippers’ radars, we have the impression that the ball is in the court of Daryl Morey and the Sixers. Can they settle for draft picks as the main consideration for the Bearded One?
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Source texte : ESPN
2023-10-13 14:56:00
#Clippers #offers #Sixers
