James Harden’s interest in going to the Philadelphia 76ers became a poorly kept secret in the week leading up to the NBA trade deadline. One problem with that could be whether or not the 76ers were involved in actively speaking to Harden while he was still with the Brooklyn Nets.
The NBA has been quite serious about pursuing tampering allegations in recent seasons, and there were questions about whether the 76ers could be subject to an investigation if Harden wound up there. That is unlikely, however, for several reasons. According to Ian Begley of SNY, the Nets and 76ers have good relations organizationally, and GMs Daryl Morey and Sean Marks get along both personally and professionally. That alone makes any complaint unlikely.
“It’s just the nature of the world we’re in. I’m not going to start making accusations at everybody else," Marks said. "Again, this particular set of circumstances was played out in the media far earlier than any conversations were ever had. I don’t know and again if this is where it ends up, that will be completely up to the league to look into these set of circumstances.”
In addition, the Nets voluntarily traded Harden to Philadelphia, which would largely undermine any tanking complaints. The issue could have potentially been different had Harden remained with Brooklyn, then signed with the 76ers as a free agent in the summer.
Harden has preexisting friendships within the 76ers organization, and some teams were apparently convinced that both sides were making use of them long before Harden was dealt. The Nets don’t appear to be particularly motivated to find out if that was the case, which would leave it up to commissioner Adam Silver to launch an investigation himself.
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