Patrick Beverley Remains Hopeful of Playing With Harden on Sixers

When the Philadelphia 76ers inked another former Houston Rockets player this summer, it had a different feel compared to last year’s round of signings. Last season, the Sixers were certain that former Rocket James Harden would play for them. Therefore, Philadelphia assembled a team of his former teammates to make him as comfortable as possible.

While the signing of Patrick Beverley helps the Sixers boost their backcourt bench, the move was also viewed as a potential way to help Philadelphia in their current saga with Harden, which involves a trade request that was made several times throughout the offseason.

Beverley attempted to publicly convince Harden to stick around, knowing that the ten-time All-Star desired a trade to the Los Angeles Clippers despite picking up his contract option with the Sixers for the 2023-2024 season.

“James, I love you, bro. Stay!” Beverley told reporters. “James is a really good friend of mine. A really, really, really good friend of mine. Our moms are best friends. Me coming into the NBA with Houston, it was me and him. Six years, my star buddy. So I’m very familiar with James, and I’m excited. I’m excited to kind of get it going. He knows I’m here. So we’ll see.”

Beverley tried — and the initial attempt was seemingly unsuccessful. Over a month since Beverley’s effort to convince Harden to stay, the ten-time All-Star has gone on record to call out Philadelphia’s President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and mentioned he wouldn’t play for an organization that Morey is a part of ever again.

As one of the Sixers’ newest members, Beverley certainly isn’t happy with his new team’s current predicament, as he recently referred to the incoming standoff as, “unfortunate.” However, Beverley showed an understanding of Harden’s perspective on ‘The Pat Bev Podcast.’

“I don’t think it’s coming from a bad place; I think he understands exactly what he’s doing,” Beverley said regarding the Harden situation, according to Liberty Ballers. “Like I said, it’s a tough one ’cause I know both guys. I understand both guys. It’s just so many pieces that we’re not educated about. But we do know there was something in place that didn’t go down and one man feels some type of way which he’s entitled to feel that way. So I’m not here for the bad James Harden press at all. I’m not here for any of that because if I was promised some [expletive], I expect some [expletive] in return also.”

Following Harden’s accusations towards Morey earlier this week, many wondered what Harden believes he was lied to about. While there was an overwhelming assumption that Harden felt slighted after a potential “wink-wink” deal, which the Sixers were investigated for last summer, a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday mentioned that Harden “privately indicated” his comments were a response to Morey ending trade discussions, and not an allegation of illegal negotiating tactics.

Regardless of what Harden’s frustrated about, his mind hasn’t changed. With training camp around the corner, the assumption is that Harden will take part in a holdout. Yet, Beverley wants to see the situation get resolved without the ten-time All-Star getting dealt.

“I hope I’m able to suit up and play with James Harden,” Beverley added. … “I came to Philly hoping he would be here. It’s just an unfortunate situation.”

So far, every Sixer that has spoken publicly about Harden’s situation has displayed an understanding from the disgruntled guard’s standpoint. Beverley joins players such as Joel Embiid, Paul Reed, and PJ Tucker in continuing to show support for Harden, despite his potential holdout in October.

Could the influence of the aforementioned players help the Sixers get back on the right track by getting Harden back in the building and ready to play for Philly next season? Only time will tell. But for right now, Harden seems to be sticking to his plan, which is forcing himself out.