76ers’ James Harden Says Fans in China ‘Deserve to Actually See Me Come Play Here’ | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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AP Photo/Matt Slocum
James Harden wants to move on from the Philadelphia 76ers, and he made that quite clear this week when he called president of basketball operations Daryl Morey a “liar.”
While Harden’s next NBA destination remains unclear with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that the 76ers have ended trade talks for the veteran, he’s not ruling out a future stint in China somewhere down the line.
“Every time I come here, the love is just like … it’s crazy, you know what I mean?” Harden said, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “So I feel like they deserve to actually see me come play here. … Love is always crazy here.”
Harden is in China this week for the first time in four years to meet fans and attend events.
In terms of the love he has received in the country, he sold 10,000 bottles of his signature-brand wine, J-Harden Wines, in just 10 seconds during a recent livestream with local social media influencer Xiao Yang.
While Harden seems to have enjoyed his time in China, his immediate future likely isn’t in the Chinese Basketball Association.
According to Pompey, under the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement, a player may be considered to have violated his contract if he “withholds playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract.” In that scenario, an NBA team can prevent a player from signing with another professional team.
Harden, who opted into his $35.6 million player option for 2023-24, has been adamant about moving on from the 76ers this summer. A source close to the veteran guard reiterated to The Athletic’s Sam Amick on Saturday that he “no longer wants to play for Philadelphia and has no plans of taking part in training camp.”
The Los Angeles Clippers were reported to have been Harden’s preferred destination, and the 76ers had conversations with the franchise about a deal, per Wojnarowski, but nothing materialized.
Wojnarowski added that Philadelphia’s asking price for Harden was “steep” and that no teams were willing to meet the franchise’s trade demands. He also reported that the star point guard is “unhappy with Sixers president Daryl Morey over the lack of a long-term maximum-level contract offer.”
Harden was traded to the Sixers during the 2021-22 season from the Brooklyn Nets, and he has been a solid contributor alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. During the 2022-23 season, he averaged 21.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 10.7 assists while shooting 44.1 percent from the floor and 38.5 percent from deep.
However, those numbers don’t signal that he’s worthy of a maximum-level contract extension.
With seemingly no long-term extension on the table and Harden publicly calling out Morey with several of his NBA colleagues supporting him in doing so, it seems like only a matter of time before he’s traded.
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