It remains to be seen if James Harden will finish the season with Houston. Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports

NBA fines 76ers' Daryl Morey for tweet about James Harden

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 12/28/20

Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey might want to delete all Twitter-related apps from his devices.

The NBA announced on Monday that Morey has been fined $50,000 for violating anti-tampering rules due to a tweet that Morey's account sent regarding Houston Rockets superstar James Harden on Dec. 20:

This was the (since deleted) tweet that ultimately drew the fine for Morey. Pretty clearly an automated tweet but league is not messing around on tampering pic.twitter.com/HXvgFqGmqr
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) December 28, 2020

Morey, who previously served as Rockets general manager, allegedly sent a tweet from an automated app that celebrated the one-year anniversary of Harden becoming Houston's all-time assists leader. As Tim MacMahon explained for ESPN, the one-time regular-season MVP requested a trade from the Rockets this past offseason.

Reports surfaced earlier this month that the 76ers are willing to include All-Star Ben Simmons in a trade for Harden but that the two clubs weren't close to completing a deal. It's unknown if Morey's tweet, intentional or not, will derail talks between the organizations.

Harden has also been linked with the Brooklyn Nets in trade rumors. MacMahon added that the 31-year-old is willing to join a contender other than Brooklyn or Philadelphia this winter.

Per Ben DuBose of USA Today/Rockets Wire, Morey found himself in hot water in October 2019 when he tweeted an image in support of a Hong Kong protest movement.

As the old adage goes: Never tweet.

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