WASHINGTON – Philadelphia 76ers star guard James Harden said on Friday that his relationship with Sixers executive Daryl Morey cannot be repaired but he plans to play for the National Basketball Association (NBA) team this coming season.
The 34-year-old American, a three-time NBA scoring champion who led the league in assists last season, saw his relationship with team president of basketball operations Morey sour after he opted into a US$35.6 million (S$48.8 million) contract for the 2023-24 season
Harden made that decision expecting that he would be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers as he had requested but no deal materialised.
This is not even about this situation. This is in life,” he said in his first comments since rejoining the 76ers last week.
“When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage. You lose trust in someone. Know what I mean? It’s pretty simple.”
Harden, the 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player and a 2012 Olympic gold medallist, was obtained by Morey from the Oklahoma City Thunder 11 years ago when Morey was with the Houston Rockets.
Morey departed the Rockets in 2020 for the 76ers and in January 2021, Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, where he stayed for just over a year before being traded to the 76ers, reuniting him with Morey.
“When I got traded here, my whole thing is I wanted to retire a Sixer,” Harden said Friday. “And the front office didn’t have that in their future plans.”
Harden said that after years of good communication with the “front office”, there was only silence after the Sixers lost to the Boston Celtics in last season’s Eastern Conference play-off semi-finals
There was no communication once we lost,” he said.