The Sixers have found themselves in yet another soap opera with a would-be championship co-star.
And the blowup could lead to Philadelphia’s worst nightmare and the Knicks’ dream scenario — Joel Embiid tiring of the endless process.
Over the last week, Sixers guard James Harden has made it painfully clear he is ready to move on. Again.
The orchestrator of awkward exits from the Nets and Rockets has a bone to pick with 76ers president Daryl Morey apparently over the lack of a long-term max contract offer and the end of trade conversations with the Clippers, Harden’s preferred destination.
Over the weekend, a report stated the Sixers plan to bring Harden to training camp over the 10-time All-Star’s objections.
On Monday, video circulated online of Harden calling Morey “a liar” and vowing to “never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” while making an appearance in China.
The situation has the potential to unravel nastily and create a toxic locker-room environment for the Sixers, who already went through something similar two years ago when Ben Simmons elected to sit out to start the 2021-22 season.
And if Harden chooses to play, can he be trusted not to sabotage the 76ers season with indifferent play?
This past season, Harden — who turns 34 on Aug. 26 — averaged 21.0 points and led the league with 10.7 assists per game, yet those numbers fell to 20.3 and 8.3 in 11 playoff games, including four sub-15-point showings.
As I can attest as a former Philadelphia-area resident, his Game 7 performance in the second round against the Celtics, if you want to call it that, still lingers in the minds of many if not all Sixers fans: Harden put up a dismal nine points, seven assists and six rebounds.
That track record, paired with the current drama, has Philadelphians ready to replace Harden with someone new, even of lesser value but who is willing to play.
Even in the best case with Harden, how will he fare with a declining skill set, a new coach in Nick Nurse and a roster that lost rotation pieces such as Georges Niang and Shake Milton?
Looming over the Harden-Morey dispute is the future of Embiid, who is the face of “The Process” and the city’s most prominent athlete.
The Harden drama could be the last straw for the 2023 MVP if it taints the upcoming season, and it already may have taken a toll.
Reports this week, in the wake of the Harden comments, noted changes to Embiid’s X/Twitter profile, including the removal of “processing…” and the Philadelphia geo-tag from his bio.
An image reading “The Process” still stands as his header, however.
Embiid previously set off alarms among 76ers fans in July when he said, “I just want to win a championship. Whatever it takes. I don’t know where that’s going to be, whether that’s in Philly or anywhere else.”
That followed pointed comments Embiid made after the 76ers’ playoff outster against the Celtics.
“Me and James, we can’t win alone. That’s why basketball is played five-on-five. We need everybody to find ways to be better,” said Embiid, whose scoring average in the postseason (23.7) was down nearly 10 points (33.1) from his regular-season MVP standard.
And that was with Harden on board. What if he needs a new partner to try to lead the team out of a competitive Eastern Conference?
After a third consecutive playoff exit in the conference semifinals, a coaching change and now another unhappy co-star, the critiques can be justified — and it’s music to many ears in rival fan bases and front offices.
Especially the Knicks’. There is a connection between Embiid and Knicks team president Leon Rose, his former agent.
And the Knicks are a rising contender coming off their first playoff round victory since 2012-13.
The 7-foot six-time All-Star could be that extra piece to the puzzle for the Knicks, who have stockpiled a load of trade assets. (Plus, there’s a Philadelphia connection in the Knicks’ fraternity of former Villanova players Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo.)
If the Sixers’ season is poisoned and they falter on the way to a lackluster postseason result for the seventh year in a row, could Embiid be out the door?
The Knicks would be a favorite on the list of possible landing spots.
Today’s back page
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🏈 SERBY: Aaron Rodgers not stressed about Jets’ shaky offensive line play — yet
⚾ Yankees now a below-.500 team after offense flops again
🏈 CANNIZZARO: Sterling Shepard opens up about selfless road back to Giants huddle
⚾ VACCARO: DJ Stewart’s big day proves just how relevant Mets playing out string is for some
⚽ USWNT coach resigns after 2023 World Cup disaster
Blind-sided?
The feeling of watching or reading something for the first time is one we cannot get back, but many times we wish we could.
Take the movie “The Blind Side,” which we’ll no longer be able to watch the same way we did the first, third, or fifth time until recently — no matter where you sit on this week’s events.
On Monday, ESPN reported that former NFL player, and one of the film’s primary characters, Michael Oher, now claims his presumed adoptive parents, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, didn’t officially adopt him, and rather tricked him into signing away the legal authority to use his name in business deals after he turned 18 years old.
A 14-page petition, filed in Shelby County, Tenn., further alleges the family used the conservatorship to make millions of dollars off of the 2009 Warner Brothers movie starring Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar for her performance as Leigh Anne.
If Oher had been legally adopted, he would not have been cut out of the lucrative proceeds from the movie as a member of the family.
The Tuohys will enter into a consent order to end the conservatorship, their lawyer said Wednesday.
The lawsuit reportedly has “devastated” the family, who defended that their reasoning for the conservatorship was to ensure Oher could be eligible to play football at the University of Mississippi, where Sean Tuohy is a booster.
A scene in the film, which recently has resurfaced on X/Twitter and garnered over two million views, depicts a lawyer advising Michael of the NCAA’s fear that his decision to attend Ole Miss might spark a trend among boosters of taking in potential players as a plan to bolster their schools.
What once was viewed as a feel-good, inspiring story of a family taking someone in dire circumstances and raising him as one of their own to be a professional athlete is now tainted in the minds of many.
Oher was already a critic of the movie, saying it “ruined my football career.” The eight-year NFL veteran felt he was under the microscope after the movie was released in a way he didn’t like.
“I’m not trying to prove anything,” Oher told ESPN. “People look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie. They don’t really see the skills and the kind of player I am. That’s why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field.
“This stuff, calling me a bust, people saying if I can play or not … that has nothing to do with football. It’s something else off the field. That’s why I don’t like that movie.”
Oher, 37, is looking for a full accounting of the money earned off of his name, including from a film that made over $300 million at the box office and the Michael Lewis book that inspired it.
While Oher has made his feelings clear about a movie many loved, this latest chapter forces the rest of us to reconsider a tale that may have been a little too good to be true.
Chart of the day
Liberty shuffle the deck
The Liberty have done more than just even the score with the WNBA-leading Aces.
On Tuesday night, New York beat Las Vegas for a second time this season, winning the Commissioner’s Cup trophy — the franchise’s first hardware since it was established as one of the league’s original franchises in 1997.
The Liberty pulled away for a 82-63 victory, securing another statement win against the Aces. They also won by 38 points on Aug. 6 at Barclays Center.
A few weeks back, most WNBA fans likely would have agreed the star-laden Liberty were one of the favorites to reach the WNBA Finals but also that they ultimately would fall to the juggernaut Aces, who won last season’s title. The Aces had cruised in the teams’ first meeting of the season, 98-81, in Las Vegas.
Now, the script has changed. Although it may not be entirely flipped, the Liberty’s two resounding wins have made the identity of title favorite much more of a toss-up.
A key difference for the Liberty has been Jonquel Jones, who has found her rhythm over the past few weeks after getting off to a slow start while working her way back from a left foot injury during last year’s Finals with the Sun.
The 6-foot-6 center, 2021 MVP and four-time All-Star put up 16 points and 15 rebounds on Tuesday, marking her 11th double-double this season.
In the previous five games — all Liberty wins — she averaged 13.8 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Another advantage is the club’s talented bench, an asset the Aces lack.
On Tuesday, the Liberty got the kinds of performances from Marine Johannes (17 points, three rebounds, two assists) and Kayla Thornton (eight points, four rebounds, two assists) they have come to rely on.
The Aces don’t have the same kind of bench depth, especially with Candace Parker sidelined due to injury, which forces them to squeeze as many minutes as they can from Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and 2022 MVP A’ja Wilson, who shot a bleak 2-for-10 from the field on Tuesday.
The two title front-runners meet again Thursday night in Las Vegas (10 p.m., Amazon Prime Video), and they’ll meet one final time in the regular season on Monday, Aug. 28 before a potential Finals showdown.
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