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James Harden has stirred up some drama between himself and the Philadelphia 76ers. Harden’s former Houston Rockets head coach, Kevin McHale, is not exactly shocked that the relationship has begun to sour.

After a big contract extension with the 76ers didn’t materialize, Harden picked up his player option for a one-year, $35.6 million deal with Philly but quickly requested a trade. Harden reportedly wanted to be dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers, but that trade has not come to fruition, and the 76ers star has now called general manager Daryl Morey a “liar.”

These are not sunny times in Philadelphia. McHale, a Boston Celtics legend, coached Harden for seasons in Houston and spoke with Heavy Sports about the bitter situation.

McHale said he feels for Morey because sometimes general managers are caught between the player and ownership in these stand-offs. McHale said he suspects Morey may have wanted to work on a long-term extension for Harden, but that might not have been 100% his call.

“James wanted a big extension from Philly, and Philly wouldn’t give it to him, and that’s not a Daryl decision,” McHale said. “Daryl’s got a part of that, of course, but that’s an owner decision. So (Harden) was really mad, saying Daryl lied to him, but, you know, maybe they saw Game 7 against the Celtics and said, ‘I’m not interested in that.’

“I think Daryl would have probably tried to extend him and keep everything happy. But as far as trading him goes, you know, Daryl gets stubborn. It’s going to be interesting.”

Harden’s postseason struggles have apparently led to internal strife before. McHale said that after the 2015 NBA playoffs, when he benched Harden in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, the guard showed up to next year’s camp “fat and didn’t feel like playing.”

At this point, it seems like Harden has sufficiently burned bridges with the 76ers. During an event in China, Harden slammed Morey publicly.

“Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden said. “Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be part of an organization that he’s a part of.”

Now, the 76ers have lost some leverage in trade talks, and Morey might not be inclined to give Harden away for pennies on the dollar. When former 76ers guard Ben Simmons wanted to be traded, Morey took his time, and Simmons even sat out games at the start of the 2021-22 season before he was finally sent to the Brooklyn Nets.

The full schedule for the 2023-24 NBA regular season was released on Thursday afternoon. Or, almost the full schedule. Due to the in-season tournament, only 80 of 82 games have been set for each team. The remaining two games will be determined by how they fare in the new event and will be announced in December. Everything else, though, is locked in. We have the schedule for opening night, Christmas Day and the in-season tournament, as well as key dates throughout the season.

Regular-season action will begin on Oct. 24 and conclude on April 14, with the All-Star break set for Feb. 16-18. As for the in-season tournament, it will run from Nov. 3-Dec. 9.

More early notes on the schedule:

Opening night is set for Oct. 24 and will feature the defending champion Denver Nuggets against the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Phoenix Suns versus the Golden State Warriors. No Eastern Conference teams will be in action.
No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama will make his NBA debut on Oct. 25 when the San Antonio Spurs host the Dallas Mavericks.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant will play against each other for the first time since 2018 on Oct. 26 when Phoenix visits Los Angeles (That 2018 game was a Christmas Day matchup between the Lakers and Warriors. James injured his groin in the third quarter.) On the same night, Joel Embiid and the Sixers will visit Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.
Miami will visit Boston in a rematch of the last two Eastern Conference finals on Oct. 27.
The first matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers will take place on Nov. 1.
The Heat will visit the Nuggets in a rematch of the 2023 NBA Finals on Feb. 29.
Opening night
The champs will get their rings before a rematch of the 2023 Western Conference finals, in which Denver swept the Lakers and left James and Anthony Davis agreeing that the Nuggets were probably the best team they had played against in their four years together.
As well as being Chris Paul’s first meeting with Phoenix since it traded him to Golden State, the Suns-Warriors game will be Durant’s first at Chase Center with fans in attendance. The arena opened after Durant left Golden State, and he has been injured for all of his visits since, except for a game on Feb. 13, 2021, in which no tickets were sold because of pandemic restrictions.
Christmas Day
This will be the first time since 2008 that the Lakers and Celtics face off on Christmas. This will also be the Warriors’ 11th consecutive year playing on Christmas and James’ 17th consecutive year playing on Christmas. Last year, James became the first player in NBA history to appear in 17 total Christmas games.
Here’s the full Christmas Day slate:

Milwaukee at New York, 12 p.m. ET
Golden State at Denver, 2:30 p.m. ET
Boston at Los Angeles, 5 p.m. ET
Philadelphia at Miami, 8 p.m. ET
Dallas at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. ET
In-season tournament
The first in-season tournament will begin on Nov. 3 with the first of seven tournament nights. The group stage will continue on Nov. 10, Nov. 14, Nov. 17, Nov. 21, Nov. 24, and Nov. 28 (i.e. every Tuesday and Friday that month, with the exception of Nov. 7, which is Election Day.)
The schedule includes Mavs-Nuggets, Lakers-Suns, Heat-Knicks, Bucks-Heat, Warriors-Kings and more.
Six group winners and two wild cards will advance to the knockout stage — the quarterfinals will be played on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, with the higher seed having home-court advantage, and the four winners will advance to Las Vegas, where the semifinals will be played on Dec. 7 and the championship game will be played on Dec. 9.

Another day, another talking point regarding James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers. This time the All-Star guard is saying that he thinks his relationship with the team is beyond repair. After returning from China — where he publicly called 76ers president Daryl Morey a liar — for an event he’s hosting in Houston this weekend, Harden spoke briefly about his relationship with the Sixers and the amount of patience he has with the situation.

“I’ve been patient all summer,” Harden said via KHOU 11. “For me, it’s just focus on what I can control and getting ready for this season.”

When asked if he thinks his relationship with the Sixers is beyond repair, Harden responded “I think so.”

So basically, nothing has changed since Harden requested a trade demand in late June, or since he called out Morey earlier this week and how he would never play for a team of his. Harden, who opted into a $35.6 million player option with Philadelphia in late June, is seemingly upset at Morey and the 76ers for two reasons. Harden was likely expecting a lucrative long-term offer from Philly this summer after taking a pay cut last offseason to give the team more financial flexibility. When that offer never materialized, Harden requested a trade, but those talks have fizzled.

While Harden has the patience to call Philadelphia’s bluff of ending trade talks with the Clippers (his preferred trade destination) with the intention of bringing him into training camp, there are costly ramifications on the horizon.

If Harden follows through with holding out of training camp like what’s been reported, it could cost him his free agency next summer. Because Harden is in the final year of his contract, the CBA states that if he “withholds services” for more than 30 days and isn’t traded by the Sixers this season, then he won’t be allowed to become a free agent next summer until Philadelphia “expressly agrees otherwise.”

It’s a potentially risky standoff for both sides, and Harden is likely betting on the Sixers not invoking that clause as it wouldn’t land well with other players around the league. However, the Sixers also have an obligation to get the best deal possible for the their organization going forward, so dumping Harden at the first offer also isn’t ideal. It’s a tricky situation, and as we inch closer to training camp opening on Oct. 3 the tension will only rise as both sides try to figure out the best path forward.