After the Los Angeles Clippers lost to the Los Angeles Lakers on November 1, Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook spoke to NBA reporters about the James Harden trade.
The Clippers acquired Harden and PJ Tucker from the Philadelphia 76ers in a blockbuster trade.
“I think we still have to come in kind of like with a selfish mindset,” Leonard said. “Meaning we can’t look over our shoulder and say this guy is going to win the game, or this guy’s going to win the game for us. We still have to step on that floor like we are out there by ourselves, and from there, it is going to be sacrifice. It’s only one basketball, and we just got to figure it out from there. But I think we all are old enough to understand what we want to do here and we’ll see what happens.”
Harden averaged 21.0 points and 10.7 assists for the Sixers last season. He led the NBA in assists per game for the second time in his Hall of Fame career.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers Updates
“I mean, we’ve talked leading up to it,” George said. “[That’s] the reason why he’s here. We wanted him here. We all said we think we can make it work, [that] we’ll figure it out. But we obviously got to practice. We got to play for us to really get on the same page and understand how to play on the floor with one another.”
Harden has career averages of 24.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.0 assists. He has made seven All-NBA teams and 10 All-Star teams. The Arizona State product has also won three scoring titles and one MVP Award.
“It’s going to be ups and downs,” Westbrook said. “Going to be good games, bad games. It’s not just going to come together and mesh and we’re going to be perfectly fine. That’s unrealistic expectations for everybody. It’s going to be a process.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers Updates
The Clippers dropped to 3-2 on the season after losing to the Lakers. Harden is expected to make his Los Angeles debut on November 6 versus the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
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