James Harden Trade: Are the Hawks a Better Team on Paper than the 76ers now?

Did the James Harden trade make Philadelphia better or worse than Atlanta?

The end to this James Harden trade saga is finally here. 

Just when everyone was fast asleep, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski decided to drop the Harden trade bomb and announce that Harden was finally being sent to the Los Angeles Clippers. 

BREAKING: The Philadelphia 76ers have agreed on a trade to send guard James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/wAyuJKMfAw

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 31, 2023

Harden is being sent to the Clippers for Marcus Morris, Nic Batum, Robert Covington, KJ Martin, a 2028 unprotected first-round pick, two second-round picks, and a pick swap. 

After all of the discussion this offseason of whether or not 76ers general manager Daryl Morey would accept a trade like this, he did. The Clippers are getting Harden to add to their trio of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook and the 76ers are getting role players back to put around Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. 

So how does Atlanta stack up with Philadelphia now? 

Before the season, I had the Hawks as the 4th best team in the East, one spot ahead of Philly. I had assumed a trade was coming eventually, but I had no idea what the 76ers were going to get back for Harden. I did assume that either Terrance Mann or Norman Powell would be included in this deal and it is a bit surprising that Philadelphia was not able to get either of them. 

The 76ers are 2-1 this season and they are getting excellent play from Maxey, who looks like he has taken a step up this season. He is shooting 56% from three-point range and is being asked to be the second option on a team with an established superstar in Embiid. 

The most interesting thing to keep an eye on is if this is the team that the 76ers have for the rest of the season. All of the players that were acquired are in the last years of their contracts and if Philadelphia added Furkan Korkmaz, they would have $45 million in expiring contracts. The draft capital they received from the Clippers is also there to throw in any deal if they try to trade for a star player later in the season after those players are eligible to be traded again. The 76ers could once again look completely different later in the year if they choose to pursue that option. They could also just play this year out with those players and see how far they can go. They would have a large amount of cap space this offseason to go and pursue any big-time free agents. As ESPN's Bobby Marks notes though, that is not exactly how teams are built anymore. 

Cap space is great but the trend on how rosters are built is not through free agency.

The top free agents include: Jrue Holiday (P), Paul George (P), Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard (P), OG Anunoby, LeBron James (P), DeMar DeRozan and Pascal Siakam https://t.co/vY6FMrKzsO

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 31, 2023

Now, let's get to the Hawks part of this. 

I do think the Hawks roster is better from top to bottom. The player in that trade I like the most for the 76ers is Martin, who was a sneaky good signing this offseason. Morris, Batum, and Covington are not the effective players that they used to be and not able to defend as well as they used to. They are not unplayable by any means, but they are not going to be the difference makers that Mann or Powell could have been for Philly. Losing P.J. Tucker in this trade hurts them in my opinion. 

Now, Embiid is better than any Hawks player, but the rest of the roster favors Atlanta. The bench depth that the Hawks have with Saddiq Bey, Onyeka Okongwu, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and AJ Griffin is better than Philadelphia's and the 76ers don't have a defender that can matchup with either Trae Young or Dejounte Murray. Murray has shown his defensive abilities in the last two games guarding Damian Lillard and Anthony Edwards. He would tasked with guarding Maxey in any series or game against the 76ers and he could limit him. 

So yes, I think the Harden trade as it stands right now puts the Hawks as the better team on paper than the 76ers. However, Philly has expiring contracts and draft picks to trade for a star player and they could have a different look in a few months. For now, I think the Hawks are better than the 76ers. 

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