Report: ‘Relationship between James Harden and Daryl Morey is essentially severed’

James Harden wants to be traded... Then the Sixers want him back... But then Harden won’t back down with his request... Then it looks like he’s staying... Aaand repeat.

The reporting and messaging from both sides throughout this saga has been going round in circles for weeks now. A scroll through our Harden trade rumor tracker is a good recap of just how back and forth everything has been so far.

Now, we have another TV appearance from Shams Charania to give his latest on the story, saying that the relationship between James Harden and Daryl Morey is “severed.”

“There’s no longer that valve of open minded, open ended trust that we’ve seen over the course of 692 games that Daryl Morey and James Harden have been together in Houston and in Philly,” Charania said. “When James Harden opted in, that decision to work together on a trade, that stemmed from James Harden believing that there was no real intention from the Sixers in giving him a long-term offer as a free agent.”

“This time around, there’s not that relationship between Daryl Morey and James Harden. It’s nowhere close to being on solid ground,” Charania added.

Yet again, Charania also reiterated that Harden wants a trade to the Clippers.

Harden wants out and Morey isn’t making a trade happen? It’s no surprise at all that we’re getting reports that their relationship is “severed”. Harden’s camp wants to apply pressure, make the Sixers settle on an offer they may not love, and accelerate the process. Meanwhile, the Sixers want to appear in control, seem happy to run it back (whether that’s the case or not), and try to maintain a competitive trade market.

Next, we’ll probably get another report that the Sixers actually want to keep him and they aren’t in a rush to make a trade.

Basically, we’re still just going round in circles with all these reports and leaks at the moment, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to end particularly soon.

What a fun Sixers offseason!