James Harden sure knows how to cause a scene when he wants out.
In 2020, he attended a birthday bash in Atlanta for his friend Lil’ Baby and skipped the start of Houston Rockets training camp when players were required to be in-market.
When he finally showed up late, Harden was unmotivated and out of shape.
He was eventually dealt to the Brooklyn Nets, but, apparently fed up with the impact of Kyrie Irving’s anti-vaccine stance, Harden forced his way out of there at the trade deadline in February 2022.
Now Harden is trying to force an exit off of a third team in three years.
He skipped the Philadelphia 76ers’ media day on Monday and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports Harden plans to arrive this week at the team’s training camp at Colorado State amid a “circus-like atmosphere.”
“The expectation is that he’s on his way to Colorado,” Wojnarowski said Tuesday on an ESPN YouTube segment. “The question’s going to be, once he arrives in Colorado, what are the Sixers going to get from James Harden?”
He added: “James Harden wants a trade, he wants to make the 76ers uncomfortable, ultimately uncomfortable enough that they don’t think they’re going to get the best out of him and they’ll make a trade.”
Woj said the Sixers plan to “bide their time” and hope they get the “best version” of the 10-time NBA All-Star.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that will happen. The Sixers aren’t in a hurry to trade him, either.
Translated with DeepL