New Orleans Pelicans fans don’t want James Harden

James Harden has made it abundantly clear that he no longer wants to be a member of the Philadelphia 76ers (at least, if Daryl Morey is still around). And despite the fact that he wants to play for the Los Angeles Clippers, he doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract. That means that, theoretically speaking, he’s fair game for anyone to trade for.

And guess who falls under the ‘anyone’ umbrella? That’s right, our New Orleans Pelicans. And quite honestly, they have as good of a chance as anyone of landing Harden, as they own a treasure trove of young talents and draft capital.

But just because you can do something doesn’t always mean that you should. So, should the Pelicans look into trading for the services of Harden? If you ask the fans, the answer is a resounding ‘no.’

As we tend to do with many controversial Pelicans’ topics, we asked the fans on our X page (follow us @PelicanDebrief) if they would want Harden to be a member of the team next year.

In total, we got 83 votes, and 62 of those voters (74.7%) answered ‘no,’ meaning they would not be interested in trading for Harden. As an aside, 15 voters (18.1%) said they would be interested in acquiring him, while six voters (7.2%) said they would need to see the trade package first.

This comment under the poll from a fan of the team sums up the reasoning behind why we don’t really need to pursue this trade:

As many of you are painfully aware at this point, before Zion Williamson went down with a season-ending hamstring injury, this team was hanging around the top of the conference. If they can stay healthy and get some internal growth from the youngsters on their roster, there is no reason that they need to give up major assets to acquire an aging Harden.

On top of that, Harden is only under contract for next season. And since New Orleans isn’t his preferred landing spot (or at least from what we know), he’d only be a one-year rental for the team, which isn’t really worth it in this case.