Daryl Morey may have cost Sixers chance at Harden

On Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nets landed superstar shooting guard James Harden from the Houston Rockets as part of a 4-team blockbuster trade that also involved the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers. The deal ends the NBA's most compelling saga in the early going of the season, as Harden had made it abundantly clear he wanted no part of Houston any longer.

Brooklyn surrendered control of its next 7 (!) first round draft picks in the deal. In addition to those picks, when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Houston walked away with a 2022 first-rounder from Cleveland (via Milwaukee), guard Dante Exum, forward Rodions Kurucs, and former All-star wing Victor Oladipo. It was, by any measure, an absolute haul.

But was it really the best deal on the table?

After all, despite public proclamations otherwise, it was widely known that the Sixers were willing to part with guard Ben Simmons in a potential package for the 2018 MVP. Simmons would have been easily the best individual asset the Rockets acquired. Though his flaws have been documented ad nauseum (re: shooting), he remains a 24-year-old 2-time All-star under contract control through 2025. The 6'10" guard is on the short list of the league's best and most versatile defenders with legitimate 5-position range. He's also one of the most creative and dynamic passers in the league, rebounds like a center, and is a terror in transition with a size/speed combination unmatched by anyone in the league not named Giannis Antentokounmpo or LeBron James.

So why would the Rockets not make a deal with a talent like that up for grabs?

Pettiness.

During his Posted Up podcast, Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes reported that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta simply wanted no part of a deal with Sixers' lead executive Daryl Morey:

"...I was told that Tilman Fertitta – the Houston Rockets owner – he was just adamant that they not make a deal with Philly, obviously with Daryl Morey being the GM over there now."

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski echoed Haynes in an appearance on Keshawn, JWill and Zubin on Friday:

"I always thought it was going to be a little difficult for Philadelphia to get a deal done if things were relatively even. Daryl Morey left the Rockets, went to Philadelphia, and I think owner Tilman Fertitta ultimately, the idea of not only allowing Morey to leave, but then to send him James Harden, to see James Harden have great success with the Sixers and with Daryl Morey, you know that was going to be something, all things being equal, I don't know if the Rockets wanted it to play out that way."

Morey became the Rockets' general manager in 2007 and remained in that capacity until last season. Over his 13 seasons in charge, Houston were one of the most active teams in the NBA, swinging 77 trades in that time. His wheeling and dealing produced the NBA's second best regular season winning percentage during his tenure (61.5%). His Rockets were also notable for perhaps being the only team to actively try to challenge the Warriors during their dominant run to five consecutive Western Conference Championships from 2015-2019.

In the end, though, the Rockets never did make a Finals appearance under Morey's watch, and things ended rather poorly. In October 2019, Morey caused an international controversy, tweeting out an image captioned: 'Fight For Freedom, Stand With Hong Kong.' The tweet strained relations between the NBA and China, and ended up costing the league hundreds of millions of dollars.

Morey also traded away Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook, only to watch the Harden-Westbrook pairing struggle to mesh en route to bowing out of the second round of the playoffs in five games.

After the season, head coach Mike D'Antoni he would not seek a contract extension with the team, and would opt to explore other options. Morey ultimately stepped down himself on October 15, seemingly to spend time with his family, only to become the Sixers president of basketball operations less than two weeks later. Morey was even fined in December for tampering with Harden.

Felicia Stone, wife of Rafeal Stone, who replaced Morey as Rockets' general manager, denounced the rumors:

Despite her tweets, it is worth mentioning the Sixers were virtually certain they were going to acquire Harden, only to watch Brooklyn swoop in at the eleventh hour.

Sometimes even billionaires are prone to grudges.