“He shrugged his shoulders and blamed Chris Paul, the Rockets fell all over themselves to ship him out” - Brian Windhorst believes James Harden doesn’t feel any consequences
On ESPN's morning show Get Up, senior writer Brian Windhorst spoke about how James Harden has shifted the blame from himself many times before and has never faced consequences for his actions. Windhorst said:
"Because everything James Harden has done for the last three years, he's felt no consequences for. I can't even tell you how disappointing the 2019 loss to the Warriors was in the playoffs. He shrugged his shoulders and blamed Chris Paul, the Rockets fell all over themselves to ship him out. He was unhappy at Houston, quit on that team, got what he wanted - traded to Brooklyn. Unhappy at Brooklyn, wanted to be trade to Philadelphia, traded to Philadelphia."
NBA and Philadelphia 76ers superstar James Harden has come under immense criticism this season not only for his struggles, but also for how he orchestrated his move to the 76ers from the Brooklyn Nets.
James Harden has landed himself in Philly with another bona fide MVP caliber player in Joel Embiid. The organization and its fans now expect to win a championship this season or at the very least come out of the Eastern Conference.
Why did it not work out between James Harden, Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets?
The Brooklyn Nets pulled off the deal to acquire James Harden from the Houston Rockets and have him team up with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. The NBA had their newest big three and arguably the best big three ever united, at least offensively.
Kyrie Irving was the reason Kevin Durant joined the Nets instead of the New York Knicks, and soon after, the Nets had Harden as well. They were heavy favorites for the championship and there seemed to be no team in the NBA capable of stopping this offensive juggernaut, on paper at least.
However, their first postseason together didn't go according to plan as Irving was injured and Harden was essentially playing on one leg due to hamstring issues. Durant alone wasn't enough to defeat the eventual champions in the Milwaukee Bucks. But expectations and hopes remained high for this Nets team.
The first cracks appeared when Kyrie was deemed ineligible to play in the home games due to the Covid-19 vaccination mandate in Brooklyn. That appears to be when Harden started to question his future with the team. Durant soon went down due to a knee injury and Harden was left all alone to man the ship.
James Harden struggled in the 1st half, shooting 3-15, including 0-9 on 2-pointers.
Kyrie Irving held him to 1-7 shooting as the primary defender in the 1st half. https://t.co/FtLxCdap29
Realizing that he will be 33 in August of this year, Harden knows that his window for winning a championship is closing fast.
With uncertainty over Irving's unavailability and Kevin Durant being out injured, Harden felt the need to jump ship and try to win a championship with the Philadelphia 76ers.