The Philadelphia 76ers are currently angling toward a run in the upcoming 2024 NBA playoffs and hoping that superstar center and reigning league MVP Joel Embiid will be able to return to the lineup before they get underway. Embiid has been out since late January with a meniscus injury and the 76ers have predictably cascaded down the Eastern Conference standings as a result, proving to many that the big man was indeed deserving of last year’s MVP honors despite some pegging it as a “sympathy award” for his previous perceived snubs.
In any case, the Sixers are of course led by president of basketball operations and general manager Daryl Morey, who has sustained somewhat of a controversial reputation during his time in the NBA dating back to his tenure with the Houston Rockets, where he oversaw several deep but ultimately unfruitful playoff runs led by James Harden.
Harden of course joined Morey and the 76ers back during the 2021-22 NBA season but then demanded a trade this past offseason, alleging that Morey lied to him about his contract situation and ultimately ending up getting sent to the West Coast to join the Los Angeles Clippers.
Another person who seems to share the same sentiments that Harden displayed in the aftermath of the 76ers saga is none other than former NBA player and current podcaster Gilbert Arenas, who recently took to his own Gil’s Arena Show podcast to express his frustration with the 76ers general manager.
“At this point it’s not about James Harden’s morals,” said Arenas, per Gil’s Arena on YouTube. “There’s 3 people now that came out and said the same thing about Morey. So we have to now take James Harden for his word, because there’s other people that came out recently. He just did it to Pat Bev, oh I’m not going to trade you and boom out of here. Chris Paul, what team don’t you want to go to? Alright I don’t want to go to OKC, alright cool, trade him to OKC. So obviously this n—- is a d—-bag. Right, so we just got to call it a spade, this is who he is.”
A rocky reputation for Daryl Morey
Indeed, former 76ers star James Harden is not the first player who has gone on the record as having an issue with Morey, but he was probably the most vocal about it. This past offseason, the nightclubs that Harden is known to frequent went viral for having bottle girls carry out anti-Morey and 76ers signs with sparklers, not the most subtle of displays of Harden’s disdain for the general manager.
As previously mentioned, Morey was largely viewed as the architect for those mid-2010s Rockets teams, led by Harden, that were perhaps the greatest continuous threat to the Golden State Warriors’ dynastic run, but were never quite able to get over the hump. How much of that was due to Harden’s own historic shortcomings in the postseason and how much can be attributed to poor roster construction on Morey’s part is certainly a debate.
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