The Philadelphia 76ers may have just been busted for tampering with the CBAs rules on free agency with their recent acquisitions of P.J. Tucker, Danuel House, and resigning James Harden.
The current CBA deal has strict rules in place to combat against NBA franchises reaching out and agreeing to deals with soon-to-be free agents before the NBA’s free agent market opens on June 30th. That also includes players that have yet to reach agreements with current teams over a new contract. In other words, James Harden and the 76ers weren’t supposed to discuss a contract renewal until June 30th.
However, according to the former MVP himself, he and the 76ers President Daryl Morey had already come to an agreement on a new deal months ago. Yeah, that’s a big “oof”.
This situation looks even worse considering James Harden not only declined his lucrative $47.4M player option, but also accepted a pay cut in his new 2-year, $68M contract. Obviously, Morey and Harden spoke about taking a pay cut so the team could sign depth players, such as P.J. Tucker and Danuel House.
The NBA attorneys have been like the Nazgul hunting for Frodo and the One Ring as they have already opened an investigation and questioned Daryl Morey. Unfortunately for Morey, there’s no Arwen (or Glorfindel, if you’re a book reader) to save him from the clutches of the Dark Lord, ahem…Adam Silver. The NBA must make an example out of Morey, Harden, and Philadelphia if they want these breaches to stop.
If this accusation is true, this would be the fourth CBA free agent breach since 2021. Already, the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, and Miami Heat have been accused and found guilty of reaching out to free agents too early. The NBA can’t be happy that this situation keeps happening.
If the 76ers are found guilty of reaching out to Harden too early, then I’d say Adam Silver and the NBA will come down extremely harsh on the team. Don’t be surprised if the 76ers are forced to forfeit a few draft picks and pay a very hefty fine. If the NBA really wanted to send a message, then they’d void one of Harden, Tucker, or House’s contracts. That would really scare NBA teams from doing what Morey and the 76ers have (allegedly) done.
But that’s not going to happen. The worst-case scenario for this situation is that the 76ers will have to give up their 2024 1st-round pick and pay a multi-million dollar fine. For a title-contending team, I’m sure they’re not too concerned with a late round draft pick two years from now.
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