The Philadelphia 76ers have made Ben Simmons available in some trade packages with the Houston Rockets for James Harden, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.
76ers president of basketball operations Darly Morey was quick to issue a response, saying, per Charania: "We are not trading Ben Simmons -- he is an important part of our future."
A reluctance to deal Simmons is consistent with Morey's prior stance, in which his goal was keeping Philadelphia's franchise cornerstones of Simmons and Joel Embiid together.
Harden, who initially stated that his preference was to be traded to the Brooklyn Nets, is thought to have expanded the list of destinations he would like to play for beyond that to include the 76ers, Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks.
Prior reporting from The Miami Herald indicated that the Heat are interested and would be open to including Tyler Herro in any trade for Harden.
Among those teams, though, Philadelphia was considered the favourite to possibly make a move for Harden, according to recent reporting Marc Stein of The New York Times. Until now, though, the 76ers were said to have been reluctant to include Simmons as part of any trade package.
Talks centred on a Harden-for-Simmons trade have come "nowhere close to a deal" at this time, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, as the Rockets' asking price of young players and picks has kept discussions from reaching an advanced stage.
In addition to Simmons and the 76ers, the Rockets are increasingly expanding trade discussions on Harden beyond his list of preferred teams, Wojnarowski reported, with many playoff-caliber teams in both conferences indicating they're comfortable committing high-level trade assets to pull off a deal.
Specific teams were not reported by ESPN at this time.
Despite his recent off-court decisions, which included attending a birthday party in Atlanta for the rapper Lil Baby when he was supposed to be quarantining, Miami's apparent interest in Harden is unsurprising given his long-running stature as one of the NBA's most impactful scorers.
The Rockets would still prefer to keep Harden, Charania reported last week, and build around him and guard John Wall, who was acquired in a blockbuster with the Wizards this off-season for Russell Westbrook.
The 31-year-old Harden is entering the second season of a four-year contract worth more than $171 million.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNwb3J0c25ldC5jYS9uYmEvYXJ0aWNsZS9yZXBvcnQtNzZlcnMtb3Blbi1kZWFsaW5nLWJlbi1zaW1tb25zLXJvY2tldHMtamFtZXMtaGFyZGVuL9IBX2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNwb3J0c25ldC5jYS9uYmEvcmVwb3J0LTc2ZXJzLW9wZW4tZGVhbGluZy1iZW4tc2ltbW9ucy1yb2NrZXRzLWphbWVzLWhhcmRlbi9zbi1hbXAv?oc=5
2020-12-17 23:36:00Z
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