The Philadelphia 76ers pulled the trigger on a deal to send James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers in the wee hours of Halloween morning.
The Sixers move on from the Harden saga and continue their championship quest.
As for Harden, he gets what he wanted all summer: He joins the Clippers. As Harden was introduced in LA, Harden said he believes he was on a leash with the Sixers. He explained what he meant:
When I meant a “leash,” I’m not meaning just shooting the basketball every time. I meant like I think the game and I’m a creator on the court so if I got a voice to where I can ‘Hey coach, I see this. What you think about this?’ then it’s like OK. Somebody that trusts me, that believes me, that understands me that I’m just not — I’m not a system player. I’m a system. Somebody that can have that dialogue with me and understand and move forward and figure out and make adjustment on the fly throughout the course of games. That’s all I really care about. It’s not about me scoring the basketball and scoring 30/40 points. I’ve done that already. That’s what I meant by that.
“I am not a system player. I am a system.”
Full comment from James Harden: pic.twitter.com/wWfLzgndlO
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) November 2, 2023
It will be interesting to see how Harden and the Clippers mesh. Obviously, they have built their team around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Harden will have to fit in next to those two as well as Russell Westbrook who’s also there. On paper, it’s a talented group. However, it remains to be seen if they will be able to mesh on the floor.
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