James Harden can become a free agent again this offseason and his market is expected to extend beyond the Philadelphia 76ers to the Houston Rockets. While the Rockets have been a rebuild mode since trading Harden to the Brooklyn Nets in 2021, there appears to be serious mutual interest between the parties dating back to a report on Christmas Day from Adrian Wojnarowski.  

"I also believe the Harden situation is one of the more under talked about things with what's going on in the season here," said Brian Windhorst on his podcast. "We are always guilty of looking ahead. And there has been very little discussion about Harden. Probably because Philly has played generally really well for the last two months.

"Christmas Day, Woj comes out with that story that Houston wants to go over Harden and it was like 'Whoa.'

"Not just that Houston wants to, but Houston believes it is a legitimate possibility and that's not coming out of thin air," said Tim MacMahon. "James Harden still spends a lot of time in Houston. Spends his summers in Houston. Works out at the Rockets' facility on a regular basis. It's a very real possibility. And Harden, by the way, never shot it down. He just said 'I don't know where that came from.'"

"It was kind of a non-denial," added Windhorst. "And that [storyline has] just gone way."

Harden took a one-plus-one deal with the Sixers as a free agent last offseason worth $68.6 million. Harden took a $15 million discount in order to help the Sixers add P.J. Tucker and Danuel House. 

While Harden and the Rockets may have serious interest in reuniting, it could also be Harden attempting to increase his chances of signing a lucrative contract with the Sixers. Harden recently hired Troy Payne as his agent.

"It's also a leverage point," said Windhorst.

Kevin Love plans to sign with the Miami Heat once he clears waivers.

Lowe believes he can play a sizable role in the frontcourt rotation of the Heat. Love also discussed joining the Philadelphia 76ers.

Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers agreed to a buyout on Saturday. Love had $8.5 million remaining on his contract. Love requested a buyout after he fell out of Cleveland's rotation.

Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers have completed a buyout agreement, reports Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Miami Heat are the favorites to sign Love once he clears waivers, reports Shams Charania.

Love will also meet with the Philadelphia 76ers before making a final decision. Love has been with the Cavaliers since the 2014 season, but had recently fallen out of their rotation.

Love was in the final season of a four-year extension he signed with the Cavaliers in 2018. Love had $8.5 million remaining on his contract.

Joel Embiid said he wasn't sure whether he would participate in this weekend's All-Star Game due to left foot soreness.

"I'm not sure. I'm not healthy. I haven't been healthy for the past three weeks, or month. I was just trying to get to the All-Star break without missing games and stuff.

"But I feel like I've reached the point where I need to follow the doctor's advice ... back then he said I should have been sitting for two weeks, so we'll see how the next few days go, and go from there," said Embiid after getting 29 points and 14 rebounds in a win over the Cavs on Wednesday night.

Embiid was questionable against the Cavs with the injury.

Embiid added that his focus was on winning a title.

"Like I said, the focus is on winning, especially getting ready for the second half of the season and the playoffs. I'm focused on winning a championship. If that helps me get there healthy, then that's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to see how it goes."

James Harden has hired a full time agent for the first time since 2017 in signing with Troy Payne.

Payne is a former Adidas executive who will partner with Mike Silverman and Brandon Grier to lead Equity Basketball.

Harden declined his $47.4 million player option last summer to return to the 76ers on a two-year, $68 million with a player option for next season. Harden can become a free agent again this offseason.

Harden was previously represented by Rob Pelinka, who departed the agency side of the business to work in the front office of the Los Angeles Lakers. Harden then was represented by Brandon Rosenthal.

When Harden requested a trade from the Rockets in 2020, he retained Jason Ranne and Chafie Fields of Wasserman to help facilitate his eventual move to the Brooklyn Nets in January 2021. 

The Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to sign Mac McClung to a Two-Way contract.

Philadelphia will waive Julian Champagnie to create the roster spot for McClung.

McClung will be in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest this weekend.

The Philadelphia 76ers plan to sign center Dewayne Dedmon to a contract for the remainder of the season. Dedmon was recently waived the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs acquired Dedmon from the Miami Heat in a salary-reducing trade for Miami. San Antonio received a second-round pick in exchange for eating Dedmon's $4.7 million salary for this season.

In 30 games with the Heat this season, Dedmon averaged 5.7 points and 3.6 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game. The Sixers had been looking for additional center depth behind Joel Embiid prior to last Thursday's trade deadline.

James Harden returned to Barclays Center for the first time since he pushed for a trade from the Brooklyn Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers last year.

When asked whether he could have imagined a scenario in which both Durant and Irving would have been gone by the time he played his first game against the Nets.

"Yeah," Harden said.

Harden was asked to explain further.

"I didn't just ask to leave for no reason," Harden said. "I was in a really good place in Houston. Obviously, we didn't have a chance to win a championship, but I was comfortable. So for me to up and leave my family, all the things I created there, to come to Brooklyn for a year and a half to try to just get up and leave, it was for a reason, you know what I mean? But I'm happy for the organization and what they've got back. They got some really good pieces."

Harden said there were things he felt the Nets could have done to keep him but did not elaborate specifically.

"Yeah, there was," he said. "Like, a lot of things. But it was just a lot of dysfunction. Clearly. But it was a lot of internal things that I'm not going to ever just say, put in the media or anything. And that was one of the reasons why I chose to make my decision.

"But now, fast-forward to date, I don't look like the crazy one. I don't look like the guy or the quitter or whatever the media want to call me. I knew what was going on and I just decided to ... hey, I'm not built for this. I don't want to deal with that. I want to play basketball and have fun and enjoy doing it. And fast-forward to today, they've got a whole new roster."

Harden said he pushed for the move because he knew things were already moving in a bad direction for the Nets.

"It was wrong," Harden said. "It definitely ... it was wrong. It wasn't right. It wasn't right."

The Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to acquire Matisse Thybulle from the Philadelphia 76ers as part of a three-way trade with the Charlotte Hornets. The Sixers will acquire Jalen McDaniels in the trade while the Hornets will receive multiple second round picks.

The Sixers were expected to trade Thybulle, who was largely out of their rotation. Thybulle will be a restricted free agent and is represented by Aaron Goodwin, who is also the agent for Damian Lillard.  

McDaniels will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. 

Portland will also reroute Svi Mykhailiuk, who was part of the Josh Hart trade with the Knicks, to the Hornets. 

The Dallas Mavericks know they are short on defense, after trading away their best wing defender in the Kyrie Irving trade. One player Dallas is looking at to plug the hole is Matisse Thybulle.

The Philadelphia 76ers have made Thybulle available in trade talks in the last few weeks. The Sixers are looking to get out of the luxury tax, while also upgrading their roster. That has most believing Philadelphia will move at least one or two of Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz (who requested a trade) and Jaden Springer.

Thybulle has stagnated in his fourth year with the 76ers. He lost his starting spot and playing just 12.1 minutes per game. When Philadelphia didn't reach an agreement on a contract extension before the season, it seemed that Thybulle was on borrowed time with the Sixers.