The saga surrounding Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden began on Christmas Day when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Harden was seriously considering returning to the Houston Rockets.
Harden denied the reports all season, but they grew louder as the season ended and free agency approached. However, the Rockets hired Ime Udoka as their new coach and pivoted away from Harden, leading them to bring in Fred VanVleet in free agency. The idea for Houston is to continue to develop young guard Jalen Green.
Udoka sat down with ESPN’s Zach Lowe and revealed his reasoning for Houston not to bring back Harden:
“Nothing against James,” Udoka told ESPN, “but Fred is just a better fit. I coached James in Brooklyn. He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever been around. The words ‘Ime doesn’t want James’ never came out of my mouth. It was, ‘Let’s look at the best fit.’ If we want Jalen and the young guys to take the next steps, we need them to have the ball. As for me saying I don’t want James, that was never the case. It was about fit.”
Harden spent the majority of his career in Houston where he is regarded as one of the best players in the history of the Rockets. The future Hall of Famer won three scoring titles in Houston, and he was named MVP in 2018. He led the Rockets to the Western Conference finals in 2015 and 2018, but they were unable to defeat the Golden State Warriors in either instance.
Now Harden is back with the Sixers, and the organization hopes it can change his mind and want to remain with the team. While it appears Harden is adamant about his trade request to the Los Angeles Clippers, the good news is with the team at camp and there wasn’t any drama during his return.
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