James Harden and Daryl Morey went from besties to beef

TL;DR

Their friendship collapsed when Morey ghosted Harden after a disastrous 2022 playoff performance instead of delivering a promised $210 million max contract.

Key Points

• 1.Morey traded for Harden in 2012 and built "Moreyball" around him — an analytics system favoring only threes and layups — turning Harden into a superstar and himself into NBA Executive of the Year (2018).
• 2.Their bond was unusually personal: Morey wore Harden face t-shirts, commissioned a life-sized portrait of him, and publicly called Harden a better scorer than Michael Jordan.
• 3.Harden took a $15 million pay cut in Philadelphia so the Sixers could sign PJ Tucker and Danuel House, widely understood as a deal where Morey would later reward him with a max contract.
• 4.After Harden shot 4 airballs in a Game 7 loss to Boston (blowing a 3-2 series lead, losing by 24 points), Morey went completely silent — ghosting Harden instead of delivering the expected max offer.
• 5.Harden retaliated by scrubbing Sixers references from social media, skipping training camp, ditching the team for 10 days, and calling Morey a liar at a promotional event in China — triggering an NBA investigation.
• 6.The standoff ended when Harden showed up at the airport for a road trip and security turned him away; Morey resumed trade talks two days later, and Harden was traded to the Clippers three days after that.