Sixers boss Daryl Morey is on a roll, stonewalling James Harden and protecting Tyrese Maxey

Daryl Morey is, for the moment, a Philadelphia hero. He’s done the right thing four times now. He waited, then got top dollar for Ben Simmons. He didn’t hire Mike D’Antoni to coach. He didn’t cave to James Harden’s outrageous demands, and he’s waiting to get value for Harden, too. And now, reportedly, he has made low-cost, top-talent guard Tyrese Maxey untouchable.

Morey has a reputation for zigging when the rest of the league zags just for the sake of zigging. He slavishly follows numbers most people properly dismiss. This has hindered him for years in Houston, and it figured to hinder him in Philly, too.

Instead, he has been a steadfast steward, continually doing what’s best for the Sixers organization. The commonest of senses have prevailed on the guy who started the annual Geek Summit at MIT. I admit, I didn’t see this coming.

» READ MORE: Does Daryl Morey love James Harden’s game so much he’ll spend $200M to keep him with the Sixers?

Morey ignored love, embraced logic, and stood firm with Harden, who wanted $150 million and three years despite being 34 going on 64 as a diminished, diminishing player. Harden was hurt and angry at Morey’s refusal, and now has opted in to his $35.6 million contract and demanded a trade … for the third time in three years. Harden files for divorce like he’s Larry King.

This breakup is different, though. This one is initiated by his most fervent sponsor, Morey, who considers Harden to be a better scorer than Michael Jordan. That clearly is no longer the case, but then, it never was. It’s as if Morey finally realized he’d been in an unhealthy relationship for 12 of the last 14 years, and now Morey is doing what’s best for him.

Morey foreshadowed this maturity and independence last month, when he didn’t hire D’Antoni, the NBA’s maddest scientist of the previous decade. Still, avoiding a failed coach is much easier than excising from your franchise player whose career you built. Harden has made about $286 million from contracts from teams run by Morey. It looks like he’ll never make another dime in that regard.

Finally, Morey & Co. reportedly are refusing to trade Maxey, a 22-year-old who was a 43.4% three-point shooter this season. Portland’s Damian Lillard was never coming to Philly, anyway. He’d rather be in Miami with Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler and incredible coffee.

Really, what 30-something millionaire superstar wouldn’t?

Morey has never won a championship anywhere, but what he’s done since he landed in Philly in late 2020 has been pretty remarkable. He turned Ben Simmons into James Harden. Morey will turn James Harden into something else, now that Harden has decided not to become a free agent. And Morey hired the best coaching candidate on the market, Nick Nurse, who took an in-his-prime Kawhi Leonard to a title as a rookie head coach in 2019 but had no interest in wrangling Leonard’s polar opposite.

The question, of course, is what might Harden bring? What if Morey doesn’t find a decent package for Harden? Why not just play chicken? Because Morey and the Sixers will lose. Harden won’t play. He’ll fake an injury or some other debilitating factor, or just not show up, just like Simmons did in 2021. Actually, like Harden did to the Rockets in 2021.

Morey will not blink. Harden might remain a 76er through the spring.

This series of events, of course, will be catastrophic for Harden.

Harden’s basis for disgruntlement lies in his understanding that, if he was a selfless player and a good soldier last season, the Sixers would compensate for his short-term underpayment — two years, $68.6 million, with the opt-out — with a long-term, lucrative deal.

The problem is, Harden didn’t earn it — in the estimation of everyone but Harden. That includes the estimation of Morey. Thank goodness. And, surprise.

Further, Harden gave no indication that he is willing to continue to develop as a professional: further selflessness with the basketball, better mentoring, and much, much better fitness. His commitment to the team and his level of professionalism is exemplified best by his jaunt to Las Vegas between the first and second rounds of the Sixers playoffs. He was caught on video at the back door of a nightclub, smacking an acquaintance. He didn’t break any team rules, but the example and the optics were horrible.

Morey had to consider all of this when deciding whether to offer Harden a contract that would pay him the maximum salary for two or three years. League sources indicate that Morey’s consideration left him with this valuation: one year at $40 million or two years at $80 million. These are fair valuations. The problem is, Harden is delusional. And that will cost him tens of millions of dollars.

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Now that he has opted in, NBA contract rules forbid Harden from getting an extension from either the Sixers or any team that employs him this season. He is angling to join the Los Angeles Clippers, where he will fit in nicely with fragile superstars Leonard and Paul George, who haven’t won anything since they forced their way to L.A. Harden will join a den of malcontents just like him, and he will lose there. Perfect.

Further, he will find himself essentially valueless this time next year. There is no way he’s ever going to sniff the kind of money Morey (and only Morey) would have offered. He’s just not that good anymore. He has forsaken his best chance to make the most money because he thinks that his desired “basketball freedom” can be found more easily outside the 215.

If Harden thinks he was restricted in Philly, wait until he starts watching Leonard and George pitty-pat from the wings.

And the ultimate irony is that not only will he lose money in L.A., he’s going to lose games there, too. It’s sad. The best marriage was the one he already had. Harden gave the Sixers their best chance to win over the next two seasons. The Sixers gave Harden his best chance to win over the next two years.

Harden’s a cool dude, and a fun, interesting guy to have around. I am delighted to have been given the privilege of covering one of the best players in NBA history. I wish him no injury or misfortune, but the petty in me is anticipating the inevitable schadenfreude watching the winter of James Harden’s career. It will be mildly delicious watching him fail elsewhere, even if the Sixers flounder as well.

The breakup leaves everyone lesser, and that’s on Morey, too, but the Sixers will at least walk away with something, and that something won’t be coached by Mike D’Antoni.

Morey deserves credit for all of this.

» READ MORE: Beware the Kawhi Leonard scenario with James Harden. Is there a fair deal?