How Ben Simmons’ saga can inform Sixers’ handling of James Harden’s drama

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Danny Green wants to be Switzerland.

The 76ers’ veteran wing cares about his “brother” James Harden, who demanded a trade out of Philly this offseason. Yet Green also cares about building a successful team.

For the second time in three seasons, the Sixers’ disgruntled standout point guard was absent on media day. Harden also did not attend the first practice of training camp Tuesday at Colorado State University, but could arrive in the next 24 hours.

Yet a present Harden does not necessarily guarantee a happy or productive one, as his behavior while forcing his way out of the Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets has illustrated. And while president of basketball operations Daryl Morey is determined to wait until a deal he deems satisfactory materializes, players and coaches with no direct involvement in this messy public standoff still must navigate the daily professional and human layers until it is resolved.

» READ MORE: One pressing question for each Sixers player headed into training camp

The good news — and bad news — is that many Sixers players can pull from experience with this type of preseason discomfort. Ben Simmons asked for a trade during the summer of 2021 and never played for the team again before he was dealt to the Nets for, coincidentally, Harden.

“It’ll be interesting, but I hope things go well for all sides,” Green said Monday at the Sixers’ practice facility before departing for Colorado. “I want to see [Harden] happy, as well as our team to be thriving and happy.

“Having people that need to be here — and want to be here — and him land where he wants to be.”

This actually is the third time that Green, now entering his 15th NBA season, has gone through a similar situation. He was on the San Antonio Spurs during Kawhi Leonard’s lengthy absence because of a dispute about treatment for a quadriceps injury before both players were traded to the Toronto Raptors in 2018. Six other Sixers players — Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, Paul Reed, Furkan Korkmaz, and Jaden Springer — are in their second go-around with an experience many outsiders would assume is distracting.

Morey remained steadfast with his public messaging about Harden’s trade prospects on media day. He said he would only move last season’s assist leader for a star-caliber player who makes the Sixers a contender in a challenging top of the Eastern Conference or for assets that could be flipped for such a player. With Simmons, that took until the February 2022 trade deadline, when Harden became dissatisfied with the Nets after fellow star Kyrie Irving could not play in New York City because he refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and Kevin Durant battled injuries.

Morey’s plan makes sense from a business and roster-building perspective, even in this era of player empowerment. But it creates a tricky job for new coach Nick Nurse while implementing his systems. He noted he has a Plan A and Plan B depending on whether Harden is part of the team. It will be a constant topic during near-daily media sessions for Nurse and players, which can grow tiring. And it can generate awkwardness as teammates and staff foster relationships on and off the court.

“Every now and then, there’s conversations about [Harden] that probably take up a few minutes a day,” Nurse said following Tuesday’s practice. “That’s it so far, so it hasn’t been too bad. I think the players have done a great job of focusing on what we’re doing, and they’re trying to learn some of the new thoughts and philosophies that we’re trying to implement.”

The Portland Trail Blazers, for instance, eliminated the possibility for such agitation when they traded superstar Damian Lillard, who asked to be moved on July 1, to the Milwaukee Bucks last week — and then dealt All-Star guard Jrue Holiday, who was part of the Lillard deal but not in the Trail Blazers’ rebuilding plans, to the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid has to be better for the Sixers to keep up with the Celtics and Bucks. Does he get that?

The Sixers, meanwhile, have leaned on the cliché of controlling what they can control. Two seasons ago, they handled the on-court portion of the Simmons drama quite well, going 32-22 without him before the blockbuster deadline deal. There were a couple of cracks, however, such as when Embiid candidly spouted, “I don’t care about that man” during a preseason media availability and, following the trade, posted a meme of a man who attended the funeral of one of his “biggest haters” to ensure he was dead. Things perhaps turned most chaotic when Simmons returned for two practices just before the regular-season opener but got kicked out for a second session for refusing to partake in a defensive drill. Last season, former Sixers forward Georges Niang acknowledged during an interview on 97.5 The Fanatic that the Simmons uncertainty took its toll behind the scenes.

“[It] was difficult because you didn’t know who you had, right?” Niang said then. “And then the trade deadline’s coming up and everybody’s walking in like, ‘Well, who’s being attached to him that’s going in [the package]?’ It’s just like you had that uneasy feeling.”

One difference between the Simmons and Harden situations is that there generally seems to be far less friction between Harden and his teammates. Two summers ago, for example, a group of Sixers attempted to visit Simmons to clear the air before training camp and were told not to come.

On Monday, Embiid said that he viewed the dissolution of Harden’s and Morey’s relationship as a “misunderstanding between both sides” and that he was less “defensive” than when discussing Simmons because blame has not been pinned on him and teammates. During Maxey’s Monday media session, he said, “I love James” after the two grew close in their time as teammates. He reiterated after Tuesday’s practice that, if Harden did arrive for practice sometime this week, “as a brotherhood, we would love to see him.”

There also are Sixers who were not here for the Simmons saga but have long-standing friendships with Harden. It’s a reason why veteran guard Patrick Beverley, a Harden teammate in Houston, wanted to join the Sixers as a free agent. The same was true last summer for P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr. — so much so that the NBA dinged the Sixers with a tampering punishment for negotiating with them too early (while Harden took a significant pay cut so they could be signed).

Tucker clarified Monday that a summer Instagram post of him and Harden — accompanied by the Lil Baby lyrics ”I’m not acrobatic, I’m not flippin’ on my bros” — was “me having my brother’s back no matter what.” But Tucker added that the rift between his friend and the executive Harden calls a “liar” will not affect his approach this season.

“Our relationship goes way beyond basketball and the years we spent together,” Tucker said of Harden. “That aside, he has this ongoing thing, and, at this point, it is what it is. Whatever management and he decide and whatever happens, happens. But the rest of us have to come here and go to work and get ready to play. …

“It doesn’t change anything. This is a business. You have to be a professional.”

Harris described “great energy” during the Sixers’ informal workouts in Philadelphia leading up to training camp. They made it through the initial barrage of Harden questions at media day. How long will they need to navigate the noise as basketball players and humans? To be determined — even if Harden does show up in Fort Collins.

» READ MORE: Sixers forward P.J. Tucker has plenty to say. He should as one of the NBA’s elder statesmen.

But many of these Sixers fortunately — and unfortunately — have experience with becoming Switzerland.

“Whenever we step on the court, we should play for each other,” Korkmaz said. “ … It doesn’t matter who’s playing, who isn’t playing. Of course, James Harden, he’s a big player. Who doesn’t want him on the team? That’s not realistic. It doesn’t matter how old is he, what type of shape he’s in, he’s James Harden. Of course we would like to have him.

“But personally, whoever’s here, whoever’s out there on the court, we should give our best for this organization, for these fans, to win the championship.”