James Harden has been very vocal about his frustrations with how things were going in Brooklyn.
After the Sixers knocked off the Nets 101-98 Saturday night, Harden opened up about his tenure with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, if there was anything different the Nets could have done to keep him, and the drama surrounding Irving’s availability to play.
Harden, while discussing his tenure with KD/Kyrie:
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) February 12, 2023
“Frustrating. It's a lot of what ifs, I think when you play less than 20 games together. So it's a little bit frustrating, but it is what it is. Hopefully everybody's in a good place now and we can move on.”
“Frustrating,” he said, summing up his time with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. “There’s a lot of what-ifs. I think we only played less than 20 games together so it was a little bit frustrating, but it is what it is. Hopefully, everybody’s in a good place now and we can move on.”
Harden: “I don't look like the crazy one. I don’t look like the guy or the quitter or whatever the media want to call me. I knew what was going on and I just decided to…hey, I'm not built for this. I don't want to deal with that. I want to play basketball and have fun”
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) February 12, 2023
He continued about the “dysfunction” of the Nets organization. “There was a lot of internal things, I’m not gonna just put in the media or anything and that was one of the reasons why I chose to make my decisions. Now, fast forward to today, I don’t look like the crazy one. I don’t look like the quitter or whatever the media wanna call me. I knew what was going on and I just decided I’m not built for this. I don’t wanna deal with that. I wanna play basketball and have fun and enjoy doing it. Fast forward to today, they got a whole new roster.”
When asked about the ability to rely on Irving after he missed multiple games, Harden says, “That’s not something I’m gonna answer, but the reason I made that decision to get out of my comfort zone which was leave Houston and do everything that I did to get out of there was to come here and play with KD and Kyrie. With that being said, that didn’t happen as much as I would have liked to or how much the organization would have wanted to. It’s just something I knew wasn’t gonna change. For me, I just had to make an individual decision for the betterment of my family and my career and what I wanted and that’s what happened.”
Harden was also asked if there was a commitment issue that he thought was lacking from Irving and Durant, who already won rings. “It was a lot,” says Harden. “But I enjoyed my time obviously playing with KD and Kyrie for those games. There’s a lot of possibilities of what could’ve happened. But it’s part of life. Move on, and I’m sure having everybody’s in a better place, a good place. And here we are.”
Irving has now moved on to play for the Dallas Mavericks while Durant is starting fresh with the Phoenix Suns.
