Philadelphia 76ers guard, and former Net, James Harden criticized the Brooklyn Nets and their structure during his time with the team in an interview with Fox Sports’ Yaron Weitzman published this week. Harden was with the Nets for parts of two seasons (2020-2021) and during that time period, Brooklyn was regarded as a title contender.
During the 2020-2021 season, the Nets were considered a juggernaut that could only beat itself because of the combination of players like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Harden. However, Harden struggled with his hamstring throughout the season and Irving was in and out of the lineup because of his not being vaccinated against COVID-19.
Eventually, the Nets lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals in seven games. Brooklyn was close to making it to the Eastern Conference finals, but lost to the eventual NBA champions. In this interview, Harden spoke about how everything was not all it was cracked up to be when he first was traded to Brooklyn:
“I don’t mean to, like, just down talk to anybody or whatever. It was just, there was no structure and even superstars, they need structure. That’s what allows us to be the best players and leaders for our respective organizations. I just feel like, internally, things weren’t what I expected when I was trying to get traded there. I think everybody knows that. And I knew people were going to talk and say, ‘You quit’ and all that stuff, but then the following summer, the other superstar there (Durant) wanted to leave. So it’s like, am I still the quitter?”
The Nets’ next game is Friday at the Toronto Raptors.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01fv0185pfxtewh01r player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=]
[listicle id=49512]
[listicle id=49515]