Photo Courtesy of Matt Slocum/Associated Press
The Los Angeles Clippers are a tough team, and they just became even tougher. The Clippers acquired James Harden on Tuesday in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the news early Tuesday morning.
The Sixers sent Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev (who the Clippers traded to Sacramento) to the Clippers. The Clippers traded Marcus Morris Sr., Nicolas Batum, Kenyon Martin Jr. and Robert Covington to the Sixers. They also gave the Sixers multiple draft picks.
Harden did not suit up for the Sixers this season, and in the Clippers’ loss to their rival Los Angeles Lakers, he was ruled out for return to play conditioning. Harden will have a chance to get acclimated to his new team before suiting up for them.
Harden requested a trade to the Clippers earlier in the offseason, after making his issues with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey public. He called Morey a liar and made it clear he did not want to return to the Sixers. The trade talks slowed down, but resumed at some point.
The Clippers have an interesting core of Paul George, Kawhi Leoanard and Russell Westbrook (who is now playing with Harden for the third time in his career). The addition of Harden could make this team even tougher.
The Western Conference just became even more competitive, and it will be interesting to see where the Clippers land.