James Harden has been in the news and headlines for what feels like a half-decade with his trade requests. He has dominated the NBA talking points for the last week with his comments about 76ers GM Darlyn Morey, and all eyes are on the situation as we come up on two months from the start of the 2023-24 season.
NBA Insiders Think Embiid Could Request A Trade Soon
ESPN insiders vote Joel Embiid as the next star to request a trade
1. Joel Embiid (40% of total votes)
2. Zion Williamson (20%)
3. Karl-Anthony Towns (12%)
T-4. Trae Young (8%)
T-4. Kyrie Irving (8%)
T-5. Ja Morant (4%)
T-5. Donovan Mitchell (4%)
T-5. Luka Doncic (4%)— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 21, 2023
But there is another potential problem for Philadelphia to deal with once they figure out the Harden issue. Reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid as been rumored to be feeling unrest with his current standing, and that he could try to force his way out sooner rather than later. He hasn’t made many public comments or drawn much attention to himself throughout the Harden saga, but there have been hints dropped.
The one time that he did take the microphone, however, he suggested that he’d be open to leaving the 76ers if it meant winning a championship. Embiid also did make the modern passive-aggressive move of changing his Twitter and Instagram bio around, deleting “Processing…” from his header.
The unrest may be more severe than we think. ESPN recently had its NBA insiders come together for a voting session on who they thought the next player to request a trade would be. 40% of the total votes went to Embiid, while 20% went to Zion Williamson. Karl-Anthony Towns rounded out the top-5 at 12%.
76ers Have Struggled To Put A Winning Team Around Their MVP
Many around the NBA believe Joel Embiid will ask out sooner rather than later, per @VinceGoodwill
“Everyone’s circling, waiting. The Knicks and Miami are keeping an eye on everything going on,” pic.twitter.com/2hwtqIv7jg
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 19, 2023
It doesn’t seem outlandish. Embiid has been at the top of his game for a couple of years now, but the organization has failed to put a championship team around him. The 76ers have made the playoffs in each of the last 6 seasons, but have failed to make it past the second round on each occasion.
With rumors of player unhappiness and potential trades come the rumors about where said player might end up. There has already been plenty of speculation regarding where Joel Embiid would want to play, and the New York Knicks are the slight favorites, currently sitting at +200 on the betting odds board. But the cross-town Nets aren’t far behind at +250, meaning that the oddsmakers see Embiid playing in the Big Apple over anywhere else.
The Mavericks (+350), Pelicans (+450), and Heat (+550) round out the top-5.
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