After acquiring James Harden in a blockbuster deal ahead of last Thursday's NBA trade deadline, the Philadelphia 76ers have no time to waste.
During his introductory press conference Tuesday, Harden made clear that with All-Star center Joel Embiid playing at an MVP level, he expects to help vault the Sixers into championship contention right away.
"The opportunity, the window is now," he said. "Joel is playing the best he's ever played. So my job is to come out there and help him and help the entire team win a championship, this year and the years going forward."
Team president Daryl Morey echoed Harden, saying, "we are well-positioned to go on a run" in the wake of the trade.
Even after Tuesday's blowout loss to the Boston Celtics, the Sixers find themselves only 2.5 games out of first place in the Eastern Conference. Although Harden won't suit up in Thursday's road game against the Milwaukee Bucks, he seems likely to make his debut shortly after the upcoming All-Star break.
To get Harden and Paul Millsap, the Sixers had to give up Ben Simmons—who didn't suit up for them this season—along with Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks. On Tuesday, Morey explained what he prioritized while negotiating the deal with Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks.
"Our focus was to keep as many of the great players as we could," he said. "We’re in the window of Joel and James and Tobias [Harris] right now. And making sure Tyrese Maxey is here, making sure that Matisse Thybulle is here, those were the big priorities. We wanted to give up nothing, but you have to give up something to make a trade and get a Hall of Famer and a player that can put us into a different tier of competing."
Morey said Maxey "absolutely has a chance to be an All-Star in this league," and he said Thybulle "easily could be Defensive Player of the Year." ("After Joel wins it first," he quickly added.) He said the "sky's the limit" for both of them, which was "the big reason why we made sure that they weren't in this trade."
Harden also heaped praise on Maxey, who's in the midst of a breakout season.
"He's always on attack, and then obviously his three-point shooting is extremely improved," Harden added. "But that right there, his overall entire game is improved. And I think his aggressive mentality to get to the basket, to knock down a shot when he's open, explains it all."
Embiid and Maxey aren't the only two Sixers who have caught Harden's eye, though. He also complimented Tobias Harris, who's rounded into form lately after a slow start to the season.
"Tobias is a guy that can go get you 20 a night, and I feel like it's my job to get that out of him," Harden said. "He's very versatile as well. My job is just help be the leader, push guys and get that swagger out of guys every single night. Because ultimately, that's gonna help us get to the end goal, and that's to win a championship."
The Sixers were a +1800 to win this year's title in the weeks leading up to the trade, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, but they're now a +650. That puts them fifth in the league, trailing only the Golden State Warriors (+460), Phoenix Suns (+460), Milwaukee Bucks (+550) and Nets (+600).
Although they had to give up a haul to get Harden, Morey said that's the price of doing business when you acquire a potential franchise-changing superstar.
"The way this league works, you have to get players of the caliber of a James Harden to pair with a Joel Embiid and a Tobias," he said. "You can win without it, but you look historically in the league, you’re looking at pretty long odds if you don’t have two great players at that level of play out there."
At the start of this season, the Nets were built that same way. With all three of Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, they were the betting-market favorite to win the title up until the trade deadline. However, Durant's MCL injury and Irving's inability to play in home games because of his refusal to get a Covid-19 vaccine placed most of the burden on Harden over the past month.
Harden said Irving's refusal to get vaccinated had a "very minimal" impact on his desire to get traded. However, he did say that "it definitely did impact the team."
"Originally, you know, obviously, me, Kyrie and KD on the court and winning covers up a lot of that stuff," he added. "It's unfortunate that we played 16 games out of whatever it was, but it is what it is."
That superstar trio wound up playing only 365 minutes during their tenure together, per PBPStats. The Nets had a thermonuclear offensive rating of 129.1 with all three of them on the court, but Irving's uncertain availability moving forward begged the question of how often that trio would get to play together.
"I need to be around guys that I know that want to win and know that they're willing to do whatever it takes to win," Harden said Tuesday.
Although questions remain about Harden will fit with Embiid and the rest of the Sixers, he expressed confidence that they'll figure it out.
"We've got guys on our team that are very smart, that communicate, and we have coaching that's gonna put us in positions to be successful," Harden said. "Listen, they have something great already going on. I'm just here to contribute. And I know that I can do that very well. So on the court, when you have high-level skill guys that know the game and all they wanna do is win, they'll figure it out."
We might see that start to happen as soon as next week.
