James Harden fires back at claims he’s a bad teammate

It’s no secret that James Harden’s relationship together with his ex-Brooklyn Nets teammates performed a key function in his determination to pressure a transfer to the Sixers. A lot has been made about how Harden’s relationship with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving deteriorated over the previous few months and the way this resulted in Harden finally leaping ship.

Over the previous few years, Harden has earned a repute for being a nasty teammate. It’s a must to do not forget that earlier than becoming a member of the Nets, he additionally pressured his means out of the Houston Rockets and the way in which he performed himself within the last few weeks of his tenure with the squad probably didn’t carry quite a lot of pleasure to his now-former Rockets teammates.

For his half, nevertheless, Harden firmly believes that this portrayal is unwarranted:

“I don’t know why,” Harden responded when requested why he believes he’s earned the repute of being a nasty teammate, through Brian Hall of the Associated Press. “That’s for the media. The media say that. I really feel like I’m the most effective teammates that the NBA’s seen, on the courtroom and off the courtroom.”

Not solely did he disagree with the notion, however Harden has even come out to say that in his thoughts, he’s one of many biggest teammates within the historical past of the league. That’s fairly a daring declare, to say the least.

“Simply because the present scenario occurred, no matter occurred, occurred,” Harden continued. “It doesn’t imply that I’m a nasty teammate. Me, personally, I really feel like I wanted to do what’s finest for my profession, and assist myself and be joyful. It doesn’t harp on whether or not I’m a nasty teammate or not.”

Honest level from Harden right here, although. Forcing his means out of his former groups doesn’t essentially make him a nasty teammate. It says quite a bit about his loyalty, but it surely doesn’t imply that his determination to show his again on his squad mechanically destroys his relationships together with his former teammates. For all we all know, they may have been absolutely supportive of his determination.

What we are able to say for certain, nevertheless, is that Harden is now loving life with the Sixers. He appears to be getting along really well with Embiid in Philly, and at this very early level in his profession together with his new workforce, I assume we are able to say that he’s been a very good teammate.