WASHINGTON – Philadelphia star guard James Harden said on Friday that his relationship with 76ers executive Daryl Morey cannot be repaired but he plans to play for the National Basketball Association (NBA) team this coming season.
The three-time NBA scoring champion, who led the league in assists last term, saw his relationship with team president of basketball operations Morey sour after he opted into a US$35.6 million (S$48.8 million) contract for the 2023-24 season.
Harden, 34, made that decision expecting he would be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers as he had requested but no deal materialised.
“This is not even about this situation. This is in life,” he said in his first comments since rejoining the Sixers last week.
“When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage. You lose trust in someone. Know what I mean? It’s pretty simple.”
Harden, the 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player and a 2012 Olympic gold medallist, was obtained by Morey from the Oklahoma City Thunder 11 years ago when Morey was with the Houston Rockets.
Morey departed the Rockets in 2020 for the 76ers and in January 2021, Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, where he stayed for just over a year before being traded to the 76ers, reuniting him with Morey.
“When I got traded here, my whole thing is I wanted to retire a Sixer,” Harden said Friday. “And the front office didn’t have that in their future plans.”
Harden said after years of good communication with the “front office”, there was only silence after the Sixers lost to the Boston Celtics in last season’s Eastern Conference play-off semi-finals.
“There was no communication once we lost,” he said.
He called Morey a “liar” in August at an event in China and vowed not to be part of any organisation with him.
But Harden says now he is ready to play for the 76ers alongside NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid as the side try to capture a first championship in 41 years.
“I come in here today and work my butt off, do the things that are necessary as a professional, do what I’ve been doing for 15 years,” said Harden.
“I can control what I can control. I take it one day at a time and focus on each day as a new day. My plan is to play basketball, yes, for sure.”
Harden, a 10-time NBA All-Star, has averaged 24.7 points, 7.0 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals a game during his 14 NBA seasons.
He played in the 2012 NBA Finals for Oklahoma City, when the Thunder lost to the Miami Heat and was voted the NBA Sixth Man of the Year as the league’s top reserve.
He has not made it back to the NBA Finals, losing twice with Houston to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals. His teams lost in the Eastern Conference semi-finals in the past three seasons.
Meanwhile, Victor Wembanyama, the 2023 No. 1 draft pick in the NBA, shone again with an eye-catching 23-point performance in his second pre-season outing for the San Antonio Spurs.
The Frenchman led the Spurs to a 120-104 home win over a second-string Miami Heat, with the 19-year-old also adding four rebounds, four assists and three blocks in just under 23 minutes on court. AFP
