James Harden rumors: Power ranking 3 possible outcomes for 76ers

Let’s get it over with: James Harden arrives at camp in poor spirits

This feels like the most probable outcome. Harden, instead of sacrificing paychecks, shows up to camp and puts on a faux brave face. He sulks around reporters, openly half-tries in drills, inspires a few incendiary Nick Nurse quotes, and goes into the regular season with a very plain between-the-lines message: I don’t want to be here.

From a pure vibes perspective, this is probably worse than the previous option. The Philadelphia fanbase is pretty much done with Harden and the general nonsense around this team. He would get booed relentlessly at every home game, especially if his performance isn’t up to par (it won’t be). It would frustrate Embiid, Nurse, Morey, the entire organization. This is probably Harden’s surest way off the team if that’s ultimately his goal.

That said, this does truly ensure that Philadelphia won’t get anything of value for Harden. Any hope of rebuilding his trade value is probably fool’s gold, but this would drive the nail in the coffin. No team watching Harden sandbagging for the third time in four years is going to want to pay anything close to market price for his expiring contract. The Sixers would be angling for Robert Covington and second-round picks at this point. That would be a poetic chaser to the Jimmy Butler saga, honestly.

Harden doesn’t have the ire of his teammates (read: Joel Embiid) the same way Ben Simmons did. Embiid and others have actively lobbied Harden to stick around. How long that brotherhood lasts once Harden shows up and starts actively tanking the team around him, we shall see. It would probably get very ugly, very fast. Embiid is unafraid to post cryptically on Twitter (sorry… X) and tiptoe around harsh criticism in pressers.