After last summer – when James Harden cut his hair for $14.4 million to facilitate Year 76 to sign PJ Tucker And Daniel’s house, plus a trade for De’Anthony Melton – NBA explored. While many around the league thought that Daryl Murray and the 76ers would have to work out a “wink-wink” deal with Harden to force him to take a pay cut, what the league found out through initial contact with Tucker and House were manipulated. It cost the 76ers two second round picks.
After Harden called Daryl Murray a “liar,” there was pressure from some quarters for the league to reopen the investigation. Mark Stein talks about it in his latest newsletter.
There are now calls for the league to reinvestigate Philly to evaluate what Murray claims he lied to Harden about.
As mentioned above, the league looked into the Harden/Tucker/House situation. Adam Silver would be much more critical of Philly if he found evidence of the promise of a future contract. Does Harden or his agent have any new evidence in this regard?
That’s not to say Murray and the 76ers are innocent here. It’s certainly possible that a bigger deal is in place with Harden and his camp, or even a handshake deal. It is impossible to prove it without email, text or any other kind of evidence.
Harden has said Murray lies about a lot of things — including Pizza Fridays – But the main thing is that Harden doesn’t get paid. or traded (to a place where he can get paid). If/when Harden shows up for training camp, reporters will ask him what Murray lied to him about and maybe it will all come true. Maybe.
We’ll see if anything comes of the research requests, but I wouldn’t bet on it.