Preseason ends on Saturday.

Opener is Tuesday.

Rockets opener is Wednesday on Lee.

Seems it seems appropriate.

It's against hardens.

Old team.

The thunder is we wait to see who's new team is gonna be from the reporting that you have done.

What's the latest you can tell us on James Harden?

Uh, hey, guys, I think there's there's Mawr conversation.

Uh, maybe even a little more attraction with MAWR teams here in the last several days, and Houston has, you know, they haven't moved.

They haven't They haven't moved past Philadelphia and Brooklyn, his preferred destinations.

You know, those air.

Still two teams who I think are going to be engaged in this, But you're finding MAWR teams.

I'm told on talking to teams in both the East and the West who wanna be involved in this and who I think, especially because Harden has two years left on his contract.

It's not a one year rental you know are showing a willingness to maybe offer up some assets.

That might be enough in the end, uh, to get James Harden and the one thing that is happening, guys, the rockets are working with James Harden they're making him aware of the scenarios out there because I think if teams are going to trade for him, they wanna have a sense of how James Harden feels about being there.

Whoa is one thing you reported was that the Sixers they're willing to put Ben Simmons in the deal, But talks haven't gotten anywhere.

What are the chances that Heartlands in Philly, with or without Simmons?

I think it's really hard for Houston to do a deal with the Sixers.

That doesn't include Ben Simmons.

And, uh, listen, I think where I think we're Philly is they're very careful about putting him in a deal.

Um, that's not going to get them back Mawr than James Harden.

I think if if Ben Simmons was going to be in a deal to Houston, it would perhaps have to be even bigger than just James Harden.

I'm not sure that's how Houston looks at this.

I think they'd like Ben Simmons plus ah bunch mawr assets.

So those two teams aren't close.

That doesn't mean they won't reengage here.

It's some point, but I think especially Doc Rivers is very hesitant about breaking up that Simmons Embiid partnership on I think.

Certainly Daryl Morey has qualms about it without getting back even more than James Harden.

Remember your training a 31 year old player for a 24 year old player on, especially given that Joel Embiid is in his mid twenties, you know, put you on a different trajectory.

It really closes your window.

Limit your window to maybe how long you have a potentially a contender for eso.

You know, they're going to be careful with the Ben Simmons piece there.

And you said there are more to come out yesterday and said, You know, we're not trading, uh, Ben Simmons.

Well, I certainly don't think they're trading Ben Simmons just in a deal that looks like it's straight up with some pics for James Harden.

I think they're gonna want a lot more than James Harden.

That might not be a deal that's available to the Sixers, and I think for right now you're going to see them continue with the Embiid Ben Simmons partnership is Doc Rivers, you know, starts his tenure in Philly.

Let me let me ask you this, though, won't it?

What happens to players around the League East West that hear their names potentially floated out there and then they're not traded in the heart and deal.

And you look at what happened with the Lakers and the and what happened with a D and those names being floated and it didn't happen, and the Lakers completely collapsed at that point.

What happens then?

Well, you know what happens.

Guys in a locker room, you know, it could become a major problem for a head coach for his teammates.

You know, guys get uneasy when they hear that.

And, hey, you know, unless you're one of four or five players in this league and even then you're probably going to be involved in trade talks at some point in your career, there's very few players who won't be.

And I think if you're on a team that's a contender right now in the N B A.

You're not one of the best one or two players.

Certainly, as long as you're not the best player because you're not trading your best player in a deal like this, you usually trying to pair him up.

But if you're a very good young player on a team, you know that's a playoff team in the NBA.

You're probably in a conversation with Houston about James Harden, just like you might with other great players if they become available, because what Houston wants besides draft picks and potentially pick swaps, you know they want your best young player or they want you in a three way deal to go find a young player, uh, that they really like on a third team and get him in this deal and give that team assets.

So, uh, that's going to be the conversation for Harden, and it can and does upset, uh, the order of teams, especially as the season is getting going.

And that's why teams air.

So careful when they're gonna have talks with Houston, for example, they're going to say, I need you to ask me for this.

Give me some plausible deniability, um, so that I could go back to my guys and say, Hey, I didn't offer this.

They asked me for this and we said No or the day where you say Okay, yeah, we'll do it.

And then you make the trade.

But teams air careful in these situations that is the NBA's best insider.

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