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The Philadelphia 76ers are in the midst of another potential franchise-altering move after it was reported last month that James Harden wants to be traded. Instead of opting out of the final year of his contract, as many expected him to do in order to become an unrestricted free agent, Harden opted into the $35.6 million he's owed for next season, and requested a trade from the Sixers. While nothing has come to fruition on a potential trade for him, given the nature of these trade requests from star players, he'll likely get what he wants eventually.

However, Harden's surprising decision puts Philadelphia in a tough spot yet again after dealing with a similar trade request just two years ago with Ben Simmons, which landed them Harden. Instead of entering next season with Harden, newly minted MVP Joel Embiid and a retooled core to try and make another run at a championship, the Sixers must now play the waiting game to find a deal good enough that would give them quality assets while unloading Harden.

It's nothing new for the Sixers, who have consistently undergone change dating back to when the team landed Jimmy Butler and then traded him only to watch him make two trips to the NBA Finals since then with the Miami Heat. And while the Sixers have managed to remain title contenders through all that change, we've seen countless star players like Embiid grow tired of competing, but never winning.

There haven't been any reports of Embiid growing weary in Philadelphia, but he made comments over the weekend suggesting that the Sixers should at least be thinking about the possibility that their star could ask out somewhere down the line. During a speaking engagement at the Uninterrupted Film Festival, Embiid talked about his desire to win a championship, and while he mentioned it could happen in Philly, he also left the door open for it possibly happening somewhere else.

"I just want to win a championship, whatever it takes," Embiid said. "I don't know where that's going to be, whether that's in Philly or anywhere else, I just want to have a chance to accomplish that. I want to see what it feels like to win that first one and then you can think about the next one. It's not easy, it takes more than one, two, three guys. You got to have good people around you, and every single day I work hard to be at that level so I can produce and make it happen."

Those comments should certainly be at least a tiny bit worrisome to the Sixers front office. While Embiid's health has always been at least part of the reason why Philadelphia hasn't managed to break through even to the conference finals, when he is healthy the team always falls short of their expectations. It also doesn't help that the Sixers have been part of two major trade demands from Simmons and Harden, and a deal to send Butler to Miami which continues to age badly with each trip to the Finals he and the Heat take. 

Embiid did respond to some of the buzz around his comments on social media, implying on Twitter that he was trolling while trying to downplay the remarks.

The Sixers have quality pieces around Embiid, and the hope is that Nick Nurse can be the coach that can get this team over that hump, something Doc Rivers and Brett Brown were unable to do. But if Philadelphia continues to lose in the second round, then Embiid could be the next star player looking for a new home.