The Philadelphia 76ers are happening. Investigation by NBA For potential teases regarding the offseason signings of James Harden, PJ Tucker and Daniel House, but coach Dr. Rivers is of the opinion that the team did nothing wrong.
“You get over it, because it’s not true,” Rivers said during an appearance ESPN’s The VC Show Podcast. “Honestly, when James [Harden] Did this and said that… At first, we didn’t know what we were going to do with the money we were getting. And listen, James won, too, because James could have opted for a one-year deal. Instead, we gave him three years. And thus both parties won in many ways. Listen, it worked for us, it worked for James.
Harden’s decision to decline his $47 million player option for the 2022-23 season and re-sign at a lower number is at the center of the investigation because it gave the Sixers the cap space needed to sign Tucker and House. But Rivers said Philadelphia’s front office didn’t talk to Harden about doing that, and in fact didn’t even know what he was going to do until hours before the deadline.
“I guarantee you. [Sixers president of basketball operations] Daryl Morey had no idea what James was going to do,” Rivers said. “I remember James talking to him about opt-in or opt-out, and he was like, ‘We have five. Hours left.’ I mean, he was Daryl Morey, so that tells you he had no idea… I really believed that James wasn’t going to opt in, that he was going to try to get a long-term deal. But I didn’t know, I can tell you. That’s for sure.”
Although he believes the accusation is unfounded, Rivers believes it is a result of the competitive nature of the league, which carries from the court to the executive office.
He said that you have 29 competitors. “There’s no doubt that some teams — especially maybe [teams] That we took from the players – they’re like, ‘That’s not fair.’ That’s how it works. I understand; I’ve been on it. When I was with the Clippers, we got Kawhi. [Leonard]. The whole league was on us about it. So that’s just the way it works, but it’s a competition.”
The results of the NBA’s investigation should come out in the coming weeks. At that point, we’ll find out if the league agrees with Rivers that the Sixers weren’t at fault, or not.