James Harden refuses to let his beef with Philadelphia 76ers GM Daryl Morey go.
As Yahoo reported, when asked if his fractured relationship with Morey could be repaired, Harden tersely responded, “No. My whole thing was I wanted to retire a Sixer and the front office didn’t have that in their future plans.”
Harden continued, “It’s literally out of my control. It’s something I didn’t want to happen…But I’ve got to make a decision for my family. I understand this is a business. It’s just as simple as that. If I’m here today, I’ll work my butt off and do the things necessary as a professional as I’ve been doing for 15 years.”
Harden likened his deteriorating relationship with Morey to a bad marriage, saying “This is not even about in this situation, this is in life,” Harden said. “When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage. You lose trust in someone, you know what I mean? It’s pretty simple.”
According to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Morey wants to get assets in return for Harden that would allow the 76ers to flip for an All-Star caliber guard to replace Harden with, but according to USA Today, that asking price might be divorced from the reality of Harden’s worth. The Clippers, Harden’s preferred trade destination, are currently unwilling to part with either star players or young assets. This means that a trade to LA is extremely unlikely in the short term, and Wojnarowski expects that a deal for Harden will not be an easy one to make, inferring that teams generally do not want to trade for an expiring contract like Harden’s.
“This is not an easy trade to make with essentially trading for an expiring contract in James Harden. I think it’s another situation that’s going to play out through free agency, into summer league, and probably beyond.”
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has noted that Harden, true to his word, has been a professional in his practice sessions with the team. Nurse told Yahoo, “It’s been exactly the same,” he said. “He’s been really good in practice. I know he’s working extremely hard almost every night, like the workouts at night are really intense as well. And we’re just going day-by-day.”
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Source: Black Enterprise
