Chris Paul becomes latest player to accuse Daryl Morey of not keeping his word

Chris Paul

Daryl Morey seems to be building a reputation for himself as an executive who reneges on promises, at least according to some of his former players. Chris Paul recently became the latest star to accuse the Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations of going back on his word.

In an interview with Dwyane Wade on his podcast “The Why with Dwyane Wade,” the Warriors point guard claims he received a phone call from then-Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who assured Paul that he wouldn’t be traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder if he refused.

“I’m in Vegas and Daryl called me…He said ‘I was just calling you just to make sure you didn’t wanna go to OKC.’ I was like, ‘No, I don’ moved 15 people to Houston,'” Paul explained. “And he was like, ‘I would never trade you to somewhere you didn’t want to go because you chose to come to us from the Clippers.'”

Paul then went on to say he found out about the trade while on the phone with his wife before Morey called to officially inform him.

“Daryl was like, ‘Hey man, it just moves so fast.’ I said, ‘It’s all good, I just want you to tell me one thing,'” Paul elaborated. “‘You said you wasn’t going to trade me, right? He said, ‘Yeah, I said that but…’ I said, ‘That’s all I needed to know.'”

Chris Paul also stated during the same interview that Morey has “[n]o people skills” and doesn’t know how to talk to people.

The Rockets sent Paul along with picks to the Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook.

This past offseason, James Harden famously called Daryl Morey a liar at an Adidas media event in China, saying, “Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.” Harden claimed that Morey promised him a max contract after declining his $47 million player option to sign a two-year deal starting at $33 million that would help the team strengthen the roster. This according to an interview with The Athletic. Harden was later traded to the Clippers in November.

Former Philadelphia 76ers point guard Patrick Beverley has also accused Morey of deception on his own podcast “The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone.” According to Beverley, he asked Morey if he was being traded during a trip in Denver. Morey responded with “You? No, not you. Of course not.” Beverley was then sent to the Milwaukee Bucks a couple weeks later at the Feb. 8 trade deadline.

Ultimately, a general manager’s loyalty remains to the team. Their job isn’t to placate to the feelings of any individual player. But if these accusations are true, blatantly lying and back-tracking on promises isn’t a good look for the leader of an organization. Players do talk amongst themselves about these things and it will be interesting to see if this affects the 76ers chances of bringing in another star player to pair with MVP Joel Embiid this coming offseason.

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