Any chance of James Harden softening his stance on his ongoing issues with Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey is apparently dead in the water. The 10-time NBA All-Star pick is back with the team on pre-season duties, admittedly later than one would have hoped, but that is apparently not a sign that the 34-year-old is happy to be with the franchise.
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Harden is clearly a top performer, but his career has stuttered a tad of late, and his move to the 76ers should have helped get things back on track, but it hasn’t quite worked out that way.
Harden had hoped to be traded to the L.A. Clippers, but the move didn’t happen, and for that, he held Morey directly responsible, and he publicly called the Philadelphia president a liar when on press duties in China, and it’s an accusation he refuses to draw back from.
Harden discussed the relationship with Morey in a recent interview and where things stand at present;
‘When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage,’
‘You lose trust in someone, you know what I mean? It’s pretty simple.’
‘Me and the front office had a very, very good relationship for a decade,’
‘There was constant communication, you know what I mean? There was no communication once we lost.’ Harden added.
On whether he’ll be back in pre-season action soon, Harden commented;
‘I can control what I can control,’
‘I take it one day at a time and focus on every day as a new day. My plan is to play basketball, yes, for sure.’
76ers main man Joel Embiid is happy to have Harden back on board and will no doubt hope that the player lets his talents do the talking this coming season;
When asked about where things go from here for Harden, Embiid responded;
“I don’t know,”
“He’s practicing with us. That’s all we know.”
“But we’re not focused on that. We’re focused on getting the offense together and defense together, figuring out how to play together.”
“As a team, we’re just focused on what we’ve got to learn and learn as soon as possible. We don’t have a lot of time. We want to win, and that’s the goal,” said Embiid.
On whether the situation mirrors a similar issue that surrounded the franchise when Ben Simmons effectively went on strike, Embiid added;
“I think this group is a little different than a couple years ago,”
“[We have] a new coaching staff and everything that’s going on. I think, you know, it’s been easy [to focus]. I don’t think anybody has been distracted.”
The 76ers lost their first two pre-season games against the Boston Celtics but collected their first win when defeating the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center 127-119.
