There is certainly no question the New York Knicks are retaining near tabs on Joel Embiid as his very long-term long run in the Metropolis of Brotherly Like likely hangs on the precipice. Ahead of turning their implicit attention toward sooner or later acquiring the NBA’s reigning MVP, though, the Knicks held early talks with Daryl Morey on buying and selling for fellow Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden.
Soon just after Harden rocked the league in late June by opting into the closing calendar year of his deal and requesting a trade from Philly, the Sixers’ entrance office brass experienced “initial conversations” with the Knicks as nicely as LA Clippers, his desired place, in accordance to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
Preliminary conversations among New York and Philadelphia with regards to Harden hadn’t been beforehand noted. It can be also hardly astonishing they did not produce any traction. Not only has Harden created abundantly distinct he desires to perform alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in his indigenous Los Angeles, but the league’s reigning support leader would be a bad in shape with the Knicks given his age, enjoying design and the assets that would have to be despatched back again to Philly to get him to Manhattan.
For our dialogue on who’s greater among Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic, listen beneath:
New York has sluggish-performed its climb up the Japanese Conference in latest decades, averting splashy trades for expensive veterans to prioritize the growth and continuity of a young roster growing old into its collective primary. Jalen Brunson emerged as a entire-fledged star following signing with the Knicks last summer season, filling the franchise’s longtime hole at point guard. There is certainly a circumstance to be designed he’s presently a additional dependable most important playmaker than Harden, primarily versus playoff level of competition, and Brunson, 27, has only just started getting his ft damp in that function soon after spending the initially 4 years of his NBA occupation actively playing next fiddle to Luka Doncic with the Dallas Mavericks.
There is no doubt New York is significantly improved off retaining its status quo, preventing towards the best of the East when biding its time till Embiid or an additional antsy superstar can make himself available by using trade. Several groups will be much better positioned to pounce than the Knicks when that time inevitably comes. They have their complete steady of initial-spherical picks heading forward, which includes three more secured very first-rounders in 2024 and one in 2025.
In spite of the Sixers’ insistence that James Harden is off the desk, all indications nonetheless level to him obtaining moved by the February trade deadline—and nearly surely not to New York.