The James Harden situation in Philadelphia has been utter chaos. There’s no other way to describe it.
Since Harden demanded a trade from the team, things have only gotten worse.
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He’s (hilariously, btw) called Daryl Morey a liar multiple times at this point. Harden has continuously gone at the 76ers for reasons that — to be completely honest — aren’t the most transparent.
Like, we don’t know why he’s mad. We all assume Harden just wanted a big payday. He didn’t get it from Philadelphia. And, now, he doesn’t want to be there.
Things didn’t have to end up this way. They almost didn’t, according to reporting from Stephen A. Smith on First Take. Harden talked himself out of what sounds like a fantastic situation.
By fantastic situation, I mean a max contract.
Stephen A. Smith reports that Houston had initially been willing to offer James Harden a max contract this offseason.
However, after Harden expressed to Ime Udoka his ambition to win a scoring title, the max contract offer was rescinded 😬
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 4, 2023
“The Houston Rockets were talking to James Harden thinking about bringing him back after Ime Udoka was brought in. This is what I was told. He actually talked himself out of a max deal because he went in there talking about how he wanted to return to being a scoring champion. And Ime Udoka and them were like ‘Nah, we ain’t trying to have that here. We’re building something a little different.’,”
Yikes, man. That’s pretty wild if it’s true.
It wouldn’t be shocking at all, considering how much complaining Harden did last season about the shift in his role in Philadelphia. But, man, if that mentality destroyed his leverage with the Rockets, that’s a big deal.
Ultimately, we’ll never know what the Rockets were going to offer Harden — if anything at all. But it just makes the situation we’re looking at now even more unfortunate.
