The ongoing James Harden saga has consumed the Houston Rockets for the first few weeks of the 2020-21 season. Harden has been requesting a trade for quite some time. He missed time in training camp, needed an extended quarantine period and showed up out of shape.
Yet, Harden is still considered one of the elite scorers in the league. He showed up on opening night and scored 44 points in Houston’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He can still put the ball on the floor as well as light it up from deep. When he’s happy and motivated, he can be an MVP level player.
On Tuesday, things took a turn for the worse as Harden and the Rockets took a bad loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, and he took his frustrations out postgame as he took his trade request another step further.
This is how James Harden walked off the podium tonight. It sounded like a farewell pic.twitter.com/fnY2h6dnHP
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) January 13, 2021
The Philadelphia 76ers could use another superstar to really compete for a championship, but president Daryl Morey has stood firm that he does not want to trade Ben Simmons right now.
On Wednesday’s edition of ESPN’s “First Take,” Stephen A. Smith reported Harden still wants to land in Philadelphia:
The bottom line is, James Harden wants out; he wants out by any means necessary. He wants to go to Philly for what I’m being told, even more so than Brooklyn now obviously Daryl Morey would have something to do with that. I don’t know if they have the assets they’re willing to give up to get James Harden, because I think it would take a Ben Simmons a couple of picks maybe another player in order to get James Harden from Houston, and I don’t see Philly doing that, but Daryl Morey is there, even though Doc Rivers has some say to along with Elton Brand, so you just never know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mGB83q4_Bk
It remains to be seen if the Sixers will pull off any trade, but Harden is one of the best perimeter scorers in the league and his fit next to Joel Embiid would be very interesting, to say the least.
https://embed.sendtonews.com/oembed/?SC=AV0hmSbfGC-1106658-7498&autoplay=on&V=2&format=json
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