Philadelphia crowds are well-known for holding grudges with departed stars. Hell, in some instances, you don’t even want to depart Philadelphia to really feel the market’s scorn.
James Harden has seen either side.
From Harden’s contract opt-in and commerce request to his calling Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey a “liar” and eventually being traded to the LA Clippers in late October, the when, the place and what of the Harden-76ers saga was one of many dominant storylines of final NBA offseason. It was mentioned and dissected on podcasts, TV exhibits, social media and extra.
Practically each NBA fan had an opinion on it, however this week, the person on the middle of all of it had little to say.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Harden stated Monday when requested how he’d be greeted within the Metropolis of Brotherly Love. “We’ve greater issues than me worrying about Philadelphia, you understand what I imply?
“We received greater issues.”
In some ways, Harden is true. In his introductory information convention after being traded, the previous MVP declared, “I’m not a system participant, I’m a system.”
However currently, that system has been discovered, simply in time for a return to a spot — for a mere 102 video games together with playoffs — Harden known as dwelling however left in relative disarray in comparison with how he arrived.
Morey, the 76ers lead exec since 2020, was Harden’s foremost champion in Houston, the place Harden gained the 2018 NBA MVP award and developed into among the best gamers within the league. When Harden arrived in Philadelphia from Brooklyn through commerce two years in the past in change for former All-Star Ben Simmons, who’s now checked out as a pariah in Philadelphia, it was a celebration for Morey and an acceleration of the 76ers’ path to rivalry with all-world middle Joel Embiid.
On the time of the deal in February 2022, Harden was headed for the final of 10 straight All-Star appearances. He received off to a powerful begin with the 76ers, profitable his first 5 video games with the group and main a closeout of the Toronto Raptors in his first playoff sequence with Philadelphia, one which Embiid didn’t end due to a facial damage. However by time Embiid returned for the pivotal Video games 5 and 6 in opposition to the Miami Warmth, Harden was unable to excel.
“Since we received him, everyone anticipated the Houston James Harden,” Embiid stated after the 76ers had been eradicated in 2022. “However that’s not who he’s anymore. He’s extra of a playmaker.”
The eventual rift with the 76ers had its roots in that 2022 offseason, when Harden grew to become a free agent after opting out of his $47.4 million participant choice. Harden signed a two-year deal (with a participant choice) however says he took thousands and thousands much less on his deal than he may have. The wiggle room allowed Morey to signal former Rockets P.J. Tucker and Danuel Home to multi-year offers. These offseason maneuvers received the destructive consideration of the NBA, and the league rescinded two second-round picks from the 76ers consequently.
Harden believed {that a} full season beneath coach Doc Rivers required him to alter his position and be much less dominant, serving to to gas Embiid’s first MVP season. Within the playoffs with out Embiid, Harden had one in all his greatest performances as a 76er, main Philadelphia with a playoff career-high 45 factors within the Sport 1 win over the Boston Celtics. However Harden mixed for less than 22 factors on 7-of-27 taking pictures in Video games 6 and seven of that sequence, each losses for Philadelphia.
Amid all of it, rumors continued to swirl about Harden’s potential curiosity in a Houston reunion, although that risk seemingly took a success when the Rockets employed former Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka to exchange Stephen Silas in April 2023. Forward of enjoying the Clippers in December 2021, Udoka, who was with the Nets as an assistant coach and de facto defensive coordinator when Harden was in Brooklyn, was requested about main Boston’s protection versus working the Nets protection, Udoka famous there have been challenges with Harden on the ground.
“Don’t change as a lot both … like Brooklyn does to some extent,” Udoka stated. “It’s two completely different groups, and I believe we’ve completely different personnel, I can do various things. Brooklyn depends on that closely for various causes. Don’t wish to work as arduous on sure issues. And so we will perform a little little bit of each.”
Udoka downplayed not wanting Harden in Houston. The Rockets did, nevertheless, add a veteran guard to their younger core, selecting to signal Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet to a three-year, $130 million deal. Udoka later described VanVleet as a “higher match” for his program.
Tensions between Harden and the 76ers went up a degree in June when he opted into his participant choice for 2023-24 to facilitate a commerce, with the Clippers being his most popular vacation spot. These tensions had been heightened much more in August, when Harden known as Morey a “liar” whereas talking at a advertising and marketing occasion in China.
“Daryl Morey is a liar, and I’ll by no means be part of a corporation that he’s part of,” Harden advised the group in attendance in entrance of quite a few cameras. “Let me say that once more: Daryl Morey is a liar, and I’ll by no means be part of a corporation that he’s part of.”
These feedback, which Harden stated referred to Morey saying that Harden could be traded “rapidly,” prompted an inquiry from the NBA. Morey and Harden by no means noticed eye-to-eye once more.
“So, taking much less cash, sacrificing, that’s not talked about,” Harden stated at his introductory information convention with the Clippers. “It’s talked concerning the different BS. And it simply didn’t work out. So me leaving Brooklyn and pondering I’m going to retire as a Sixer, you understand what I imply?
“And the entrance workplace had different plans. They didn’t need me, and it’s that easy.”
That stare down would have lasted a matter of days if Harden had his approach, permitting him to be traded earlier than the official begin of free company. As an alternative, it dragged out for months.
The Clippers and 76ers postured over Harden all through coaching camp and the preseason. Harden didn’t attend Media Day in Philadelphia however joined the group at coaching camp in Colorado. Harden didn’t play in any preseason video games and took a private go away at one level, however he was nonetheless on the common season roster.
Every week into the season, one of many greatest offseason tales was lastly resolved. Harden was traded to the Clippers, ending a tumultuous chapter with the 76ers and getting into the subsequent cease in his NBA journey in LA.
Harden has completed nicely to try to brush off how he has been obtained by followers and within the media. However he has been delicate to the narrative round him as nicely. When Dallas Mavericks tv analyst Brian Dameris mocked Harden by calling him “The Drawback” as an alternative of “The System” in November, Harden claimed to have ignored it.
“I don’t actually care about what different persons are saying,” Harden stated.
His tune was a lot completely different when the Clippers gained 131-122 in Phoenix in the beginning of January.
“It gave individuals a lot to speak about in a destructive approach, and now these those who had been speaking are nowhere to be discovered,” he stated. “Like, actually nowhere to be discovered.”
Harden’s return to Philadelphia comes because the Clippers are destabilizing. After going 26-5 from Dec. 1 to Feb. 5, LA misplaced its fifth-straight dwelling recreation on Monday evening and dropped to 44-27. The Clippers are actually behind Denver, Oklahoma Metropolis and Minnesota, with New Orleans holding a tiebreaker and sitting a half recreation behind them within the Western Convention standings.
The Clippers can’t rating when Harden is off the ground but in addition can’t cease offenses when Harden is on it. Earlier than the All-Star break, the Clippers outscored opponents by 7.4 factors per recreation in Harden’s minutes. Within the 16 video games that Harden has performed for the reason that All-Star break, the Clippers have been outscored by 4.0 factors per recreation in his minutes.
“We gotta discover our id,” Harden stated. “Groups are scoring straightforward on us. Makes it troublesome to attain offensively.”
Maybe Harden doesn’t care now about returning to Philadelphia. He has stated related issues when dismissing boos in Oklahoma, Houston and New York. However he’s going to care later, a method or one other. In any case, Philadelphia is the place he wished to be and retire as an NBA participant, till he didn’t. And he was a significant piece for the 76ers.
Even when Philadelphia followers are understanding of the state of affairs, Harden represents an absence for which the franchise continues to be trying to fill the void, one thing it was unable to do throughout this season. The circumstance is maybe much more on the forefront now that Embiid has missed the previous two months with a meniscus damage and the Sixers preventing for Play-In Match positioning after spending the primary half of the season among the many prime groups within the Japanese Convention.
That every one might present grounds for disdain. Harden could also be used to it. However he’s going to wish to win there to really feel higher concerning the standing of The System with the Clippers, the group with which he now desires to retire.
(Prime photograph: Matt Krohn / USA Immediately)