James Harden spoke as a Philadelphia 76ers player for the first time since his trade from Brooklyn, and the player fired up fans with his statements. Shortly after Ben Simmons was introduced as a member of the Brooklyn Nets, the Sixers did the same with the Beard.
Of course, one of the questions he received was about his decision to leave the Nets and land in Philadelphia. Harden responded that he planned on joining Philly even before he went to New York, but things took a different direction in January 2021.
Harden said that Philly was his first choice when he pushed for a trade from the Houston Rockets, and now he finally made it to the City of Brotherly Love.
“Originally, when I was going through everything that I was going through in Houston, Philly was my first choice. It just didn’t happen. I really don’t want to get into the Brooklyn situation. I just knew for a very long time this was the perfect fit. Obviously, you have the best big man in the league in Joel. And obviously the coaching… I’m just happy and blessed that I’m here, as Doc and everybody knows, and everybody wants to win, to be the last team standing, so I’m excited for that opportunity.”
"Philly was my first choice." – James Harden pic.twitter.com/1FCgbzFMvj
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 15, 2022
It was reported that Harden could be dealt to Philadelphia last season in exchange for Ben Simmons, but the Sixers didn’t want to split their Simmons-Embiid duo. In the end, they had to swap the Australian for Harden, the only difference was that Ben joined the Nets instead of the Rockets.
The Sixers landed a good player in Harden. He made them championship candidates again, but many people have concerns about his relationship with Joel Embiid. So far, they kicked things off in a good way. Time will tell if that continues to be the case or if they grow unhappy during the rest of the season.
