Should the NBA be investigating James Harden’s claims about 76ers executive Daryl Morey?
As the standoff between the 76ers and its star guard continues, concerns have been raised about the accusation he leveled at the franchise’s top exec.
While it would be fair to say that James Harden’s apparent attempt to force his way out of the Philly has been seen before, think Houston and Brooklyn. It would also be fair to say that there seems to be something else in play that nobody has touched on.
Why did James Harden call Daryl Morey a liar?
Unless you’ve been under a rock, or you’ve simply had enough, you almost certainly caught James Harden’s now infamous declaration on Monday, when he appeared in a video while in China. During the recording, Harden stated that 76ers’ President of Basketball Operations, “Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.” The former league MVP (2018) then proceeded to make it clear that this was no slip of the tongue by stating, “Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”
Now here’s the thing: Why would James Harden say such a thing about one of the top execs in the front office of the team he currently plays for? The easy road would be to say that he’s simply doing what he’s done before in an effort to force an exit from a place he doesn’t want to be. On the other hand, to call someone a liar without having some clear reason to do so seems to beg a question. This brings us to the tidbits of information that we know to be true. Harden took a significant pay cut last summer with the expressed idea of helping the franchise build a more competitive roster. Could it be that he was promised a lucrative contract extension - something we know he wanted - only to see Morey and Co. walk back on that promise? If you weren’t aware, this is the notion that is being widely floated at the moment, and should it prove to be true could well spell trouble for the franchise.
How a broken promise could be a problem for the 76ers?
Regardless of where you stand on Harden and his feud with Philly, there is something that one has to keep in mind, and that’s the rules of the game. To be clear, if indeed Morey renigged on a promise made to Harden about salary in the future, that would be in direct violation of Article XIII, Section 2 of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which is titled “No Unauthorized Agreements.” Specifically, it forbids “any agreements or transactions of any kind...express or implied, oral or written...concerning any future renegotiation, extension, or other amendment of an existing Player Contract, or entry into a new Player Contract.” Further to that, the article also prohibits “assurances of intent.”
What all of this means is that if Harden is upset because he was promised something that he didn’t receive, he’s actually quite justified in feeling that way. On the other hand, it does not necessarily make Morey or the franchise itself dishonest. Consider for a moment that following the refusal of his $47.4 million player option for the 2022-23 season, he got a player option of $35.6 million for the 2023-24 season. Of course, not only did Harden pick up that option earlier this summer, but he immediately requested a trade as well. Of course, if it comes to pass that the Sixers did in fact agree to give Harden the extension he wanted in return for a voluntary pay cut, then that’s not OK, and more over the league will need to do something about it. As we just established, such a move would be in clear violation of the salary cap rules.
So what happens with James Harden now?
For the moment nothing, but what we can say is that this is a nuanced situation. Firstly we’ve got to consider the idea that the above-mentioned article is concerned with preventing teams from making under-the-table agreements with players as a means to delay or even forgo financial commitments. Yet, without an official NBA probe, how can we know if that’s what happened? How many times have we seen deals signed, sealed, and delivered the moment that free agency comes to an end? The point is that while such things are common practice in the NBA, it doesn’t make them right, and given the public nature of what’s going on between Harden and the franchise, it could just be that this is the moment that something needs to be done.
What’s the takeaway from Harden vs the 76ers?
Rhetoric aside, if the Sixers promised Harden an extension in exchange for reducing his 2022–23 salary, they could have a very serious problem on their hands. By reducing his salary, Harden allowed the franchise to do things that it otherwise wouldn’t have been able to without it. This will, of course, require evidence to be considered fact, but one has to believe that with the CBA stating that teams can be found guilty “by direct or circumstantial evidence, including, but not limited to, evidence that a Player Contract or any term or provision thereof cannot rationally be explained”, that’s not going to be hard to prove. Ultimately, a divorce is now certain. The only question that remains is, who’s getting the proverbial house?