Sixers should pay Harden to stay away

PHILADELPHIA —James Harden didn’t play in the Sixers’ season opener in Milwaukee on Thursday because he’d left the team during training camp. He left the team because he believes Sixers president Daryl Morey should’ve traded him, as Morey promised … but Morey never promised to trade him for a bag of hammers.

At least the hammers would’ve shown up.

At this point, the Sixers need to make a stand. They have to keep Harden on the payroll, since he’s under contract and he has reported, but they don’t have to play him another minute.

There is almost zero benefit to his presence. At this point, to any self-respecting organization, he should be as valuable as a 20-yearold jock strap and as welcome as a workplace environment investigation.

This is a bad situation, entirely of Harden’s creation, and it will only get worse. Like Bigfoot and the Yeti, Harden should only exist in the Sixers’ complex as an unverifiable myth. He deserves to be shunned like an Amish guy caught with an iPhone.

In the best traditions of Ben Simmons and Carson Wentz, Harden is nothing more than a traitor — to the city, to the organization, to his teammates, and to Morey, the executive who built both of their careers on overestimating Harden’s value.

Harden this summer called Morey “a liar,” vowed he’d never play for him again, held out of training camp, and then caved and reported at the end of preseason. He then left the team for 10 days, and we’ve all seen the damage Harden can do to even a well-conditioned body in 10 days (10 days? Two days). The Sixers assessed his fitness, decided it ranked somewhere between weekend cyclist and mall-walking grandma, and refused to even let him on the team plane.

They’re on the right track, but they should go further.

He should never get on another team plane.

Send him home.

Just move on. He’s not worth the time.

Harden is an embarrassment to a blue-collar city like Philadelphia, where John Chaney coached like a maniac at Temple and where Sixers legend Andrew Toney became the Boston Strangler.

Harden earned a nickname after tangling with the Celtics, too: The Boston Choker.

There’s nothing blue-collar about not showing up for work. There’s nothing blue-collar about refusing to play defense. There’s nothing blue-collar about being out of shape.

Harden reportedly spent a month this summer in a mountainside luxury “boot camp,” but apparently he didn’t bring a drill sergeant. Think about it. Not even the Sixers think he’s in shape. I mean, if the Sixers won’t let you play, you gotta look like one of those dad-bods playing in the late-night 4-on4 league down at Y.

It’s the M.O. of millennial hoopsters, that they put their team in this bind. Heck, Harden did it twice himself to become a 76er, so, buyer beware, right? It doesn’t happen only in basketball, either.

But this is the worst holdout episode, and this is why: Harden could have gone to any team after last season by opting out of his contract. Instead, he opted in. No matter what promises might’ve been made, that locked up millions that could have been used on other players.

And, so, it began in earnest Thursday; well, actually, it began Wednesday afternoon on a sunny tarmac.

The Sixers said they wanted Harden to stay back so they could monitor his conditioning, and they cited their high-tech sports-science equipment, but … please. If they wanted him to get in shape, they’ve got StairMasters in Milwaukee, too. Of course Harden could have gone, but they knew he’d just be a badly dressed distraction in desperate need of hedge clippers, sitting on their benches in Milwaukee and Toronto. Instead, they left him on that tarmac, fuming.

At least he’s getting paid. Everybody knows he’s just here to keep himself from being fined almost $400,000 per game, and that’s about what the Sixers will have to pay him to stay away. So what. Sixers owner Josh Harris is worth almost $7 billion. Harden is sunk cost. At $389,082 a night, keeping that seat empty is a bargain.

If Harden hangs around, you know what’s coming next:

Two months of poor effort. A cascade of fake injuries. He’ll miss games because of “emotional distress” or “personal reasons.”

The James Harden Experiment certainly was worth it. In his season-and-a-half, he provided Hall of Fame moments, even if they were only about as frequent as full moons. He also absorbed some of the spotlight directed at Joel Embiid. They also say he mentored young guard Tyrese Maxey, though we’re pretty sure Maxey will recover.

Assuming Harden remains, he might tell you that he’s gonna be allin when he starts to play. Don’t buy it. The only things James Harden has ever been all-in with are strip clubs, fast food, and outfits best accessorized with red rubber noses. Will they miss him? Debatable. They lost by one point to the Bucks in Milwaukee on Thursday, but that’s coincidental to this discussion. If they’d lost by 40, they should still avoid Harden like he’s Rudy Guiliani’s handkerchief.

There’s a chance the Sixers will win more games with Harden, but not enough to justify the distraction, and certainly not in the playoffs, where he does his best losing.

You might recall that Harden was in China when he called Morey a liar and said he’d never again play for him. Here’s an idea:

Go on back to China.

Stay there.