Who is more delusional?

James Harden or Daryl Morey?

It’s a tie.

Let’s start with Harden, the 33-year-old bearded wonder in the NBA, but only when he dribbles during the regular season.

Harden declined a contract extension of $161 million two years ago with the Brooklyn Nets for his pipe dream of receiving a bigger payday elsewhere. In contrast, Morey believes Harden won’t vanish in the postseason again next year for his Philadelphia 76ers despite Harden opting into a $35.6 million contract in June, asking for a trade in July and calling Morey “a liar” in August.

And it gets worse for both guys.

Even though Harden is destined to join the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame someday, he overrates his significance in the NBA when it comes to, well, just about everything. As for Morey, he either believes in fairytales more than the Brothers Grimm as 76ers president, or he’s suffering from a mighty dose of amnesia regarding all things James Edward Harden Jr.

Here’s the bottom line: If you’re Morey or any other NBA executive seeking to have your players do more than just tease regarding wrapping their fingers around the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, Harden is the most worthless superstar in today’s NBA.

So much for the truth after Harden blasted Morey this week for supposedly reneging on a handshake agreement last summer on a monster contract extension with the 76ers. Harden suggested he was duped into opting out of his player option worth $47 million to take a $14 million discount from Morey in order for the GM to sign former Miami Heat players P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr.

Never mind the NBA cops investigated the whole thing to see if the 76ers used Harden’s contract talks to gather enough money to grab those players before the start of free agency. In the end, those NBA cops found a violation, and they docked the 76ers second-round picks in 2023 and 2024, but after they reviewed confiscated phone calls and emails, they determined Morey didn’t make the situation worse with a secret long-term deal with Harden.

Um.

Harden disagrees.

"Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he's a part of," Harden told Morey and the rest of the world this week over a microphone from a gym during an Adidas media event in China. "Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he's a part of."

Morey wants to keep Harden anyway.

Otherwise, when Harden told Morey weeks ago that he wanted out of Philadelphia in a hurry, why did Morey ask Houston for everything shy of Mission Control and several oil fields?

Sounds like Morey wants to keep Harden. Sounds like he wants to see if Harden finally can click with reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid despite two postseason failures. If not, sounds like Morey wants to see if he can get a better deal for Harden during the regular season.

Sounds like Morey is blowing it.

First, there is that “liar” comment from Harden, and then there is this: With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel, they got it wrong about Joe DiMaggio. They should have sung, “Where have you gone James Harden (when your teams have needed you the most in the postseason?).”

He’s invisible during such times. He’s been that way since he did nothing worth mentioning as a super sub for the Oklahoma City Thunder when they were bashed during the 2012 NBA Finals by the Miami Heat.

Even so, Harden told everybody back then not to believe their lying eyes regarding his postseason issues. He wanted more than the $55 million extension offer from the Thunder during that offseason (see a pattern here?). He eventually forced a trade in October 2012 to the Houston Rockets of Morey, the team’s general manager who ignored Harden’s playoff blues (see another pattern here?).

Harden went from Sixth Man for the Thunder to The Man for the Rockets. Well, technically. Before Morey headed from Houston to Philadelphia in November 2020, he watched The Man resemble The Clueless throughout his eight seasons with the Rockets during the playoffs.

Nothing changed for Harden in Brooklyn, where he landed in January 2021 after he forced the Rockets into becoming the second team to trade him. He joined Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving for an underwhelming Big Three. Then, with Durant and Irving going their separate ways, Harden wanted Brooklyn to ship him to Philadelphia, and (surprise, surprise) he spent the past two years with the 76ers as a postseason bust.

Just this spring, Harden scored 45 points and 42 points respectively during Games 1 and 2 victories for the 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics. He went 0-for-6 in Games 2 and 6 losses.

Worse, during the 76ers’ Game 7 defeat, the usually prolific shooter had just nine points, and none came in the second half.

So, for the third time in three years, Harden wants a trade.

Only Morey is shocked.

Apparently.