The Sixers finally traded James Harden, and while they didn’t get a star in return, they might just have one already in Tyrese Maxey.
As James Harden’s trade demand lingered into training camp and, eventually, the start of the season, the continued refrain from the Sixers was that they weren’t moving him without getting a star caliber player or asset in return.
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Harden became a Clipper with the Sixers getting a protected 2026 pick from OKC (the worst of the ones they hold that year), a 2028 unprotected Clippers pick, two second-rounders, and a group of wing players — Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, and KJ Martin. While Philly might argue those two firsts (one of which figures to be a very late first) are equal to star value, it’s not a huge change from the offer that was reportedly out there for most of the summer.
What did change the Sixers’ mind on moving Harden wasn’t what they were getting back, but what they saw through their first three games from Tyrese Maxey. The fourth-year guard is averaging 30.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 6.3 assists (with just one turnover) per game on 50/56/91.3 shooting splits, and looks to be fully unleashed as the lead guard in Nick Nurse’s offense. While the three-point percentage is boosted by a small sample, he’s been above a 42 percent shooter from deep for the last two seasons and Nurse has clearly pushed him to fire away from deep more often (8.3 attempts would be two more than he had per game last year).
While the uptick as a shooter and scorer has been nice, replacing Harden’s scoring was not my biggest concern about his departure from the Sixers.
