Harden hindsight | Sports Daily Newsletter

Believe it or not, Daryl Morey would do it all over again.

He traded one disgruntled star in Ben Simmons for another in James Harden, then found himself forced to flip the second player for some bench players and draft picks. And he seemingly lost his pal, Harden, in the process.

But, hey, at the time, it seemed like a good deal. Or so he says.

“You have to take a bet,” he said, “That bet won’t be perfect because you’re exiting a tough situation.

“This bet, I thought, was very good. I continue to think it was the right bet.”

So now what? How will the Sixers benefit, long-term? Have Harden and Morey made up?

— Maria McIlwain, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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❓ Would you rather the Sixers draft some players to complement Embiid and Maxey or use the picks they acquired to trade for established players? Email us back for a chance to be featured in the newsletter.

College basketball’s opening day is Monday. Join us all day and night for live coverage as we celebrate the start of the season for the Big 5 programs plus the debut of fabulous freshmen from the Philly area.

After the Phillies came within one win of getting back to another World Series, the offseason began sooner than they hoped. For their front office it means getting to work making decisions on their 2024 roster. They didn’t ask us — or you — for help, but we’re happy to give them our thoughts, and you can, too. Read our picks on each player on the roster, make your own, and see how they compare in Stay or Go.

The dust — or jet lag — has hardly had a chance to settle from the James Harden trade, but the Sixers now have an arsenal of draft capital along with the quartet of players they acquired.

But is Daryl Morey done building his roster for this season or could he use some of those assets to bring in another big name to complement Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey? Gina Mizell breaks down the list of players who might be on the table for an in-season trade.

Next: The Sixers begin the post-Harden era with a home game Thursday against Toronto (7 p.m., NBATV).

An injury to one of your key players is never ideal, but if there has been a silver lining for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles, it’s that the signal-caller has grown as a passer as he deals with his knee ailment.

It showed in his 319-yard, four-touchdown game against the Commanders on Sunday. EJ Smith has more from the QB and head coach Nick Sirianni.

The Eagles did get some positive injury news on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Gustav Elvin has the report from enemy territory. Here’s what the Cowboys are saying about Sunday’s game.

Next: The Eagles’ showdown with the Cowboys is Sunday (4:25 p.m., Fox 29).

The Flyers haven’t been good in several years, and because of that, fans haven’t had a ton to get excited about.

That seems to slowly be changing as the team is off to a promising start and has highly regarded prospects like Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov in the pipeline.

This season, fans also can look forward to February’s Stadium Series, which will feature the Flyers. One of the showpiece events of the hockey calendar each year, this year’s Stadium Series will be held outdoors at MetLife Stadium, as the Flyers will face the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 17, followed a day later by the New York Rangers and New York Islanders. Wednesday was the media event for the series, with representatives from each of the four teams speaking at MetLife.

Here’s why the Stadium Series is “more than a game” for a rebuilding organization like the Flyers.

On Wednesday night, the Flyers outplayed the visiting Buffalo Sabres. They outshot the Sabres, 40-15. But the Sabres left the Wells Fargo Center with a 5-2 victory, handing the Flyers their fifth loss in six games.

Goalie Carter Hart left the game with what the team called a “mid-body” injury and did not return.

Next: The Flyers will complete a home-and-home with the Sabres on Friday in Buffalo (7 p.m., NBCSP).

The rest vs. rust argument is as old as time. The Union, who have an absurd 10-day gap between playoff games, will be the latest test case.

Will the Union pick up where they left off after beating the New England Revolution in Game 1 or struggle to get back up to speed? Jonathan Tannenwald asked several of the players how they plan to keep sharp amid MLS’s ridiculous playoff schedule.

Next: The visiting Union will look to close out their first-round series against the New England Revolution on Nov. 8 (7 p.m., Apple TV).

We asked you: Do you think the Sixers got enough in the Harden trade? Why or why not? Among your responses:

Did the Sixers get enough? It’s addition by subtraction. They got rid of a headache, at very little cost, and got a lot in return: expiring contracts (read: cap space next year), draft picks, and to boot, freed up Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris to be the kind of players we all hoped they could be. — Michael W.

Skill-for-skill — not a good trade. Draft picks — depends on Sixers’ ability to choose; past history not promising. Psychic impact — trading Harden for a box of rocks would still be a huge benefit to the team. — Karl Z.

I feel the trade of James Harden was a win-win for the Sixers. As solid a player as Harden is, I felt as though the team’s offense stagnated at times with him on the court. He made some great plays, yes, but, it appeared as though the team stood around too much at the offensive end. Tyrese ignites the offense, and he’s the most exciting player the Sixers have had since the Allen Iverson years. He and Embiid will complement each other, the defense should be improved, and though it was never clear whether there was a simmering Embiid/Harden thing going on behind the scenes, there should be none of that going forward. At least that’s what we can hope. — John N.

The Sixers won this deal. In the short term, they added bench depth and defense with Marcus Morris and the return of Robert Covington while enabling Maxey to officially assume the role as the team’s second star along with Joel Embiid. In the intermediate time frame, they now have high value expiring contracts and future draft picks including a first rounder that can be packaged to land a complementary third star along with Embiid and Maxey (I STILL cannot believe Doc Rivers had him coming off the bench for a spell last season!), which could land a high skill player such as Zach LaVine or Pascal Siakam. — David J.

At this time I really don’t know enough about who the Sixers got in return for Harden, but the most important thing for this team is that he is gone. The old cliché one bad apple spoils the bunch is really applicable to sports teams. Harden’s dislike of the team and its owner and management added to his subpar play was killing this team. Now with Maxey set free and Emblid pumped up I think we will see a new and better team this year. — Everett S.

Yes, they definitely got enough, due to the age old adage “addition by subtraction!” It didn’t matter who or what they got in return, as long as Harden was gone. — Bill R.

Getting rid of that pain in the ass is the best thing that happened to the Sixers since they bought him! — Jill L.

Got a lot more than I ever expected. I thought we’d have let him walk ... not thinking anyone would want him ... attitude, reputation, age ... I’m glad the Simmons problem which extended to the Harden “problem”... and it was a problem, (with stretches of very good play), is past ... some players are winners ... not those two! — John D.

Getting rid of Harden is a win. I don’t care if they got back a six-pack — Tedd E.

A sack of warm bat guano would have been enough. Harden has a long history of coming up small in big moments. Though he was effective in pick and roll with Embiid, the Sixers overall offense suffered from his ball dominance forcing them into bad shots with the shot clock winding down. While he has a reputation as a heady, savvy player, he made far too many forced passes or just plain careless ones. Then there’s his weak defense and his penchant for bullying to get what he wants (see trades to Houston, Nets, Sixers, Clippers.) He is, fundamentally, a selfish player who portrays himself as a team guy just because he garners many assists. The Sixers are way better off without his malignancy infecting the roster. — Theo C.

For the first time in over a decade, the Eagles wore their kelly green uniforms, last seen in the hectic 2010 season. That year, the anticipated Kevin Kolb era was derailed due to his concussion and injuries to other key players — that’s until Michael Vick emerged as a surprising savior, sparking a quarterback debate. In Episode 3 of unCovering the Birds, Eagles beat reporter Jeff McLane explores this chaotic Kelly Green era and the unexpected season that followed. Listen here.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Marcus Hayes, Alex Coffey, Scott Lauber, Gina Mizell, EJ Smith, Gustav Elvin, Jeff Neiburg, Jonathan Tannenwald, Colin Beazley, Brooke Ackerman, Max Ralph, and Matthew Frank.