James Harden didn’t make the All-Star team last season and former Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers believes that was a major turning point for Harden.
Harden called Rivers last season and said he wanted to play with the second unit more. Rivers knew that meant Harden wanted to take more shots on offense.
According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Rivers “lit into” Harden after the Sixers lost to the Houston Rockets on December 5, 2022. Rivers was upset that Harden took the final three shots in regulation of a double-overtime loss.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: James Harden, Doc Rivers, Philadelphia 76ers Updates
“In mid-December, Rivers lit into Harden for taking the final three shots in regulation of a double-overtime loss to the young and lottery-bound-again Rockets, sources said,” Shelburne wrote. “It wasn’t that Rivers didn’t trust Harden to take the final three shots — he had allowed him to run the offense and call his own number on the final play of regulation by not calling a timeout following a defensive rebound. It’s that the Rockets had no answer for Embiid (39 points) all night and Harden wasn’t shooting well (4-for-19). When questioned in the film session, Harden demurred, saying he just couldn’t get the ball to Embiid, sources said. These flare-ups between Harden and Rivers continued throughout the season.”
Harden has requested a trade from the Sixers. The 2017-18 MVP wants to get traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. However, Philadelphia and Los Angeles haven’t made any progress on a trade.
Harden averaged 21.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 10.7 assists in 2022-23. The 10-time All-Star led the NBA in assists per game for the second time in his career and helped the Sixers win 54 games in the regular season.
However, Harden had a terrible Game 7 performance against the Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals. The lefty finished with nine points, seven assists and five turnovers in 40 minutes while shooting 3-of-11 from the floor and 1-of-5 from 3-point land.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: James Harden, Doc Rivers, Philadelphia 76ers Updates
The Sixers fired Rivers and replaced him with former Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse. Harden won’t play in Philadelphia’s first game of the season against the Milwaukee Bucks.
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