James Harden has decided to go public and make it clear he wants out of the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason. His stance drew support from other NBA stars, including a former champion with Stephen Curry at the Golden State Warriors.
“Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden said about the Sixers GM. “Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”
Harden opted into a player option this offseason only to be traded, but the Sixers have kept suitors at bay with their high demands. Therefore, Andre Iguodala joined the likes of Kyrie Irving and other colleagues who supported the guard’s position.
Andre Iguodala supports James Harden’s trade desire
“When you go into a contract negotiation, know what your value (is) and how you can leverage yourself. Know what opportunities you have on the other side, like to your safety net. What is James’ safety net? Daryl Morey has a history with China, where he can say something, and the backlash from what he says, it may not be any because there’s a history there with Morey and China. So it was a great move out of leverage by James, one, because it’s gonna be hard to discipline James, because what did he do wrong? Right? And James will sell some shoes. That’s ultimately why he’s over there,” Iguodala said, via Sixers Wire.
“We’re so quick to say, always say ‘disgruntled player’ because Kyrie (Irving), he had James’ back, because the headline from Woj (Adrian Wojnarowski) was ‘disgruntled player.’ James Harden is like, why is he disgruntled? Why isn’t the front office ever disgruntled? They always put players in a certain light and what you’re hearing a lot now is, players have too much power because we’re getting smarter and smarter. Because we know how to move and we know how to say certain things, and we know how to use our leverage, because when we make mistakes, it’s used against us, correct? When they make mistakes, we’ve never put ourselves in the position to use their mistakes that gets them as well and I just think he just had the perfect opportunity to repeat himself.”
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James Harden has a plan to get out of Philadelphia, and it could get ugly
Iguodala started his career in Philadelphia, where he spent eight seasons before leaving for the Denver Nuggets. However, he’s taking Harden’s side on this one, just like many other players.