HAS IT OCCURRED TO JAMES HARDEN THAT NO ONE IN AMERICA CARES ANYMORE?
In an NBA allowing wanderers to create absurd new destinations, Harden is becoming the last local-born MVP to ask for another trade — and if the Sixers lose him and Joel Embiid, he lost in the end
In an NBA swirl that includes Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons — and if we include LeBron James, who started it all — there is a new biggest jerk on the planet. His name is James Harden. Over the last two years and change, he has been traded from the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers and, in his whim, the Los Angeles Clippers.
Four teams, 2 1/2 years. And in his mind, a fifth team next summer, which must establish some sort of all-time record unless your name is Ish Smith.
This is not player empowerment. This is madness that makes it impossible for any fan to keep track. In February of last year, Harden was acquired amid lovely sentiments by the Sixers president, Daryl Morey. The other day in China, where natives might want to surmise the country’s weakening growth, they might ask why Harden not only ramshackled his boss but tore him a new one. Morey is the man who supported Hong Kong freedom protestors four years ago, right?
Consider his path these days. “Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden said during a tour of the country, then responded, “Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”
Choosing between Harden and Morey should be something of a toss-up between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. China is entirely different, where they still remember Harden as a member of the Rockets when Yao Ming retired and he accepted a deal there from, well, Oklahoma City. Once it was obvious in Houston that he never would be the postseason performer he was in the regular season — he won the MVP in 2018, the last American to win in a recent rush of five European winners — the path became awful to prove his NBA mettle. All you need to know is the most recent Eastern Conference semifinals against Boston: Harden was brutal in Game 2 and Game 6 losses, after a 45-point thunderstroke in Game 1 and 42 points in Game 4. How does he go from masterful output to horrific in the same series?
First to go was coach Doc Rivers. His career likely is over as he deals with “the Doris Burkes of the world complaining about guys’ load management” — did ESPN check into this? — as her partner in the No. 1 booth. Did Harden get what he wanted in new Sixers coach Nick Nurse, who won a championship in 2019? Not quite because Harden, who asked the team to pick up his $35.6 million player option in June, is stunned the Clippers and no other team wanted him. Suddenly, he is turning the Chinese into bigger Morey critics, if that is possible.
Here? It’s worse when Joel Embiid, who won the league’s MVP last season, removed “Philadelphia” from his Twitter/X base this week. Suddenly, with no one wanting Harden, is it possible Embiid will ask for a deal to New York? “I just want to win a championship,” he said. “Whatever it takes. I don't know where that's going to be. Whether it's in Philly or anywhere else. I just want to have a chance.”
Is it possible Morey, who has done little beyond leave the Rockets in Golden State’s dynasty mist, will tear apart the Sixers? Let the league penalize Harden if he doesn’t report to training camp, which can happen if the Sixers “for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract” decide he can’t sign elsewhere until they “expressly agree otherwise.” If Morey wants, he can kill Harden to the point where his 34-year-old body no longer is necessary in the league. Meanwhile, the owner of the Sixers is Josh Harris, who also took over the NFL’s Washington Commanders from Daniel Snyder’s toxic reign.
On the last few days of moments from China, Harden is rambling in his Morey backlash. He does a choreographed dance with an Adidas model and decided to see how many wine bottles would be sold on TikTok. He said a few. They told him 10,000 bottles in 30 seconds.
Maybe he should stay there. In America, where he might be the last local-born MVP for a long time, we don’t care anymore.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.