NBPA Pushes Back Against NBA’s Discipline Of James Harden For Recent Comments

The ongoing standoff between James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers ratcheted up Tuesday thanks to the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association.

Around noon ET, the league announced it was fining Harden $100,000 for his recent comments “indicating that he would not perform the services called for under his player contract unless traded to another team.” Later that day, the NBPA said it intended to file a grievance on behalf of Harden and “have the matter heard by our arbitrator,” as the union believes his comments “do not violate the rule against public trade demands.”

This began last week when Harden called Sixers president Daryl Morey a liar and said he would “never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.” A few days later, Harden told KHOU 11’s Jason Bristol that it was too late to repair his relationship with the Sixers.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, “Harden’s comments that he would never be part of an organization that included Morey played a bigger part in the fine,” as it “touched on the league’s rules concerning public trade demands.” Under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, any player “who publicly expresses a desire to be traded to another team” can be fined up to $150,000 and/or suspended.

The heart of the dispute between the NBA and NBPA appears to be whether Harden’s comments constitute a public trade demand. It’s hardly a secret that he wants to be traded—Morey acknowledged as much during a radio interview in mid-July—but neither he nor his agent have publicly declared that he’s seeking a trade.

Had the league fined Harden the full $150,000, the NBPA might stand a better chance of getting it overturned. However, another section of the CBA might give the NBA standing to keep the fine in place.

Article 35 of the CBA gives the NBA commissioner the power “to impose a fine not exceeding $100,000” to a player who “shall have made or caused to be made any statement having, or that was designed to have, an effect prejudicial or detrimental to the best interests of basketball or of the Association or of a Member.”

It will be up to the arbitrator to decide whether Harden’s comments meet that threshold. Threatening not to fulfill his contract unless traded would set a dangerous precedent moving forward, but there’s a difference between threatening to do something and actually following through on it.

Both the NBA and the Sixers will likely note that Harden had the opportunity to become a free agent this summer, but he instead chose to pick up his $35.6 million player option. However, the NBPA could point out that Harden did so to expand his potential trade destinations.

Had Harden become a free agent, he would have been limited to three options: re-sign with the Sixers, sign with another team or negotiate a sign-and-trade elsewhere. Once the Houston Rockets pivoted away from him to sign Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet instead—which seemingly happened in the days leading up to free agency—he was effectively out of realistic free-agent landing spots.

According to multiple reports, Harden is hoping to land on the Los Angeles Clippers, which further explains why he opted in. Since the Clippers are over the second salary-cap apron, they didn’t even have access to the taxpayer mid-level exception this offseason. Had Harden become a free agent, they couldn’t have offered him more than a two-year, veteran-minimum contract.

Harden told the league that he called Morey a liar because he believes the Sixers aren’t planning to “accommodate his request to be traded.” Wojnarowski reported earlier this month that the Sixers have “ended trade talks” for Harden and “plan to bring him back to training camp for the start of the season,” as “no traction on a deal materialized” during their “periodic offseason conversations” with the Clippers.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Harden told league investigators that Morey said he would trade Harden “quickly” after he picked up his player option. During his radio interview in mid-July, Morey said he was “attempting to honor” Harden’s trade request, but he stopped short of pledging that he would trade him.

“If we don’t get either a very good player or something that we can turn into a very good player, then we’re just not gonna do it,” Morey said.

Ironically, Harden seemed to empathize with the Sixers’ slow-burn approach when he was asked about Damian Lillard’s trade request.

“The organization wants to do what’s best for them,” Harden told Mackenzie Salmon of USA Today Sports. “They don’t want to just give a player that basically is one of the best players they’ve ever had in their organization for nothing, or for less… so, I get the organization side.”

According to Wojnarowski, the Sixers’ asking price for Harden has been “steep,” and “no teams, including the Clippers, were willing or able to meet it.” Perhaps Harden feels Morey is setting an unreasonably high price, but the Sixers can’t give him away for pennies on the dollar with Joel Embiid’s long-term future in Philadelphia now appearing increasingly uncertain.

With training camps set to open around the league in early October, the Sixers and Clippers could rekindle trade talks over the coming weeks. The Sixers will have to decide how much nonsense they’re willing to stomach from Harden, or whether they plan to fine and/or suspend him for failure to render services.

Either way, this might not be the last time that an arbitrator oversees a dispute between Harden and the Sixers over the next few months.