James Harden doesn’t want to reconcile with Daryl Morey — and has not spoken to Joel Embiid

James Harden’s two shortest answers Wednesday night also were the most revealing.

When asked if he thinks he will ever be able to reconcile with 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey: “No. Hell no.”

When asked if he has maintained contact with Joel Embiid, to whom he gifted a Rolex watch upon winning MVP in May: “Nah.”

Those responses came in the aftermath of a wild 108-107 Los Angeles Clippers win over the Sixers, on a night that began as Harden’s first game in Philly since the Nov. 1 blockbuster trade but ended in frenzy and controversy in which Harden had no direct involvement.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid ‘on the court’, Nick Nurse confirms. But Sixers coach doesn’t reveal much else.

Harden finished with 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting, 14 assists, and five rebounds. Then, he confirmed that the reason he demanded a trade from the Sixers — and why he does not believe he will patch things up with Morey, to whom he’d been connected since their days with the Houston Rockets — is because “I wanted to get paid. They weren’t talking” last summer, when Harden exercised his player option instead of entering free agency.

“Things that you want or may feel like should happen, and they don’t happen,” said Harden, after he did not speak to reporters following Sunday’s matchup, “and it’s like, ‘All right, cool. What’s next?’ Obviously, people always have the commentary on it or their side or an opinion, just because they’re outside looking in.

“For me, personally, I feel like I did everything I needed to do, in a sense of, the year prior, taking myself off a max [contract] to help the team get better for this city — and for myself, obviously — but to win a championship.

“Things didn’t work out. … Now you move on. Everybody’s happy. Life is good, and everybody [is] looking forward.”

Harden was booed every time he touched the ball Wednesday, though not as viciously as when Ben Simmons first returned after his messy trade request and holdout that, coincidentally, brought Harden to Philly in February 2022. There also were occasional verbal fan barbs tossed during more quiet moments, such as a “Where you going next year?” late in the first quarter, and “We hate you, James!” in the second.

“I mean, I expected it,” Harden said of that reception. “I didn’t really know what it was about, but I expected it. … If you asked them, they probably don’t know why they were booing.”

There also was no in-game tribute video Wednesday akin to the one for Clippers-turned-Sixers Nico Batum, Robert Covington, and KJ Martin shown Sunday at Crypto.com Arena. Instead, the only Sixers acknowledgment of Harden’s return was through a “welcome back” video message inside the visitors’ locker room, which is customary for all teams that roll through the Wells Fargo Center and also included P.J. Tucker and assistant coaches Todd Wright and Brian Shaw.

This also was an initial homecoming for Tucker, who played three minutes and missed his only shot attempt. Still, he slept Tuesday night in the home he still has in the area and arrived at the arena wearing a Phillies hat and necklace. He spent a fourth-quarter timeout barking across the court with Embiid, then linked up with him following the final buzzer.

Asked pregame if he expected to be part of the Harden trade, Tucker said, “I didn’t have anything to do with it, but you get thrown in stuff sometimes, and that’s just how it works.”

Regarding whether he has any “what-if?” feelings about the Sixers’ Game 6 and 7 losses to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals he said: “Never. You can’t. … Nothing you can do to change it.”

And how he would describe his season with the Clippers, which included not playing for 38 consecutive games?

“Um, I don’t want to get fined any more,” Tucker said. “I’m going to keep my money.”

» READ MORE: I was wrong: These Sixers miss James Harden, especially now with Joel Embiid sidelined

Harden, meanwhile, was an important playmaker Wednesday. He assisted Paul George’s go-ahead three-pointer early in the third quarter, the Kawhi Leonard fastbreak dunk that cut the Sixers’ lead to 91-89 about halfway through the fourth, and a Norman Powell finish that got the Clippers within 104-101 before Leonard’s consecutive old-fashioned three-point plays in the game’s final minute.

Harden also converted a second-quarter and-1 that reduced the Sixers’ lead to 45-40 with 3 minutes, 54 seconds to go and hit a three got the Clippers with 66-64 late in the third. He also hit a three while being fouled by Tyrese Maxey as the shot clock expired with 9:06 left in the second quarter.

“I was telling him, when I fouled him, I didn’t try to hurt him,” Maxey said with a smile after the game. “And he was like, ‘No, you tried to hurt me.’ And I said, ‘No. Never, bro.’ ”

That is an example of what Harden believes is the “positive impact on a lot of people” he made in Philly. And that is what he will take from his 20 months with the Sixers, however tumultuously they ended.

“I’m grateful for those relationships,” Harden said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and things like that. So those are things that I can cherish and move on with. Everything else doesn’t matter.”