(07-21-2023, 12:59 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: I DO think Philly plays a role here, however. Their looming cap space and Siakim’s impending free agency, along with Morey’s not too subtle description of what they’re looking for to pair with Embiid SHOULD be the final straw that convinces TOR to trade him NOW. We know they don’t want to supermax him, or these rumors wouldn’t be out there, they’d just give it to him already. They might/might not want to give him the regular max, but at that point they still might lose him for nothing.
(07-21-2023, 12:44 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: I don't see it, given that Harden seems to only want to go to the Clippers. If the Raptors give him a max extension I could see him staying, but would they? Doubt it. He'd then leave for free at the end of the season and the Raptors are worse off.
Harden doesn't even make them a contender.
Maybe there is a 3-way there with the Clips. But in that case, why would the Raptors want to facilitate a division rival getting their star player?
I guess the Raptors could try asking for Maxey instead of Harden, since Maxey is a better fit with their time-line.
Then the 76ers could send Harden and Tucker to the Clippers for Terance Mann, Norm Powell and RoCo? The 76ers will end up with a lot of PFs and Cs... but a tough and defensive team.
- Melton/PatBev, Powell/Korkmaz, Tobias/Mann, Siakam/Petrusev/RoCo, Embiid/Reed/Bamba/Harrell
Even though this team is lacking a primary play-maker, I think they could split the play-making duties among a lot of players and would probably be the favs to come out of the East.