The True Story About Harden That The Media Won’t Mention

[https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2953512-inside-kevin-durants-role-in-brooklyn-nets-james-harden-trade](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2953512-inside-kevin-durants-role-in-brooklyn-nets-james-harden-trade)

**This article has been available for some time now, but I see hardly anyone mention it, even though it gives a good insight into why Harden left the Nets.**

**If you want a TLDR and don’t want to read all this:**

* Durant is the boss of the organization. Kyrie and Durant had gotten tired of Harden and were afraid they would lose him in the off-season for nothing, so Durant called Marks and told him to trade for Harden just before the trade deadline.
* Durant and Harden began to disagree starting in the off-season. Harden showed up to training camp out of shape. Harden began to not listen to the coaches and wanted to play iso ball instead of the free-flowing offense that Durant and Nash wanted.
* Both the players wanted the team to give Kyrie part-time status. Harden got tired of waiting for Kyrie and wanted to chase a ring elsewhere. He saw Joel Embiid playing like an MVP and wished to join Embiid.
* Harden began to miss games because of “injuries.” The report heavily implies that several staff members were wary of the sincerity of his injury reports. He claimed he was fine for a game but sat himself out four minutes into a game against the Knicks.
* About a week before the trade deadline, Harden began partying in other cities and showed up late to games. Instead of going to games with the team, he would get his private jet to other cities like Houston and Vegas to go clubbing.
* In the end, the team was forced to trade him amid concerns that Harden would leave in the off-season, leaving all their investment for nothing.

**Here’s a lengthy summary (some of it is copied and pasted from the article to highlight critical sections while I paraphrase others). If you don’t want to read all of this, watch the video summary at the end:**

Kevin Durant was critical within the Nets organization. His strong connection with Steve Nash played a vital role in hiring Steve Nash as head coach. Durant was consulted on every major decision. He was partly responsible for the Nets drafting Cameron Thomas, and Durant reiterated his desire for Thomas to remain with the Nets past this deadline.

After Kyrie refused to take a vaccine, Harden and Durant wanted Kyrie to be a part-time player. Still, Harden made several public jabs at Irving’s vaccination status during media availabilities.

A rift had grown between Durant and Harden. Durant had been discouraged by Harden since the Nets arrived in San Diego for training camp, according to sources familiar with both players. That summer, Harden and Durant never entered the same gym, and Durant was disappointed by the poor conditioning Harden sported during those early Nets practices. Harden was also increasingly candid about wanting to test free agency for the first time.

“Kevin and James had a cold war going for the last several months that made everyone miserable,” one person with knowledge of the situation said.

“Kyrie not being held accountable and Kyrie being allowed to do whatever he wants. James, being his age, knows he doesn’t have any time to waste to get his first championship,” one source close to Harden told B/R.

As winter arrived, Nets personnel started telling rival team contacts of the troubling dynamic between Durant and Harden, venting during social gatherings and pregame activities. Harden’s poor conditioning didn’t help his slow adjustment to the NBA’s new foul changes. Durant and Nash wanted a free-flowing offense, which Mike D’Antoni had helped install last season, but Harden preferred his patented iso ball. Brooklyn coaches noticed Harden would roll his eyes when an after-timeout play was designed for Durant, sources said.

After Durant’s mid-January MCL injury made Harden more dependent, his status on the Nets felt too similar to the setup in Houston that Harden fled last January. A year later, with Durant sidelined through the All-Star break, the gossip of Harden’s wandering eye for Philadelphia was echoed by Harden’s actions.

Until a week before the deadline, Harden said he was committed to staying with the Nets. But he began distancing himself from the team, similarly to how he forced a trade from the Rockets.

After posting an emphatic 37-point triple-double on 13-of-24 shooting at the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 21, Harden left the team for Houston and a night of clubbing. He rejoined the traveling party in Minnesota for a Jan. 23 game against the Timberwolves and scored just 13 points on 13 attempts.

He then sat out the next game against the Denver Nuggets. His hamstring only got worse. Staff members urged him to sit out, yet he continued to try to play. As the situation in Brooklyn only worsened, there started to be miscommunication between the two sides. After another late night out, Harden told Brooklyn staffers his legs felt fine. But after four minutes and 22 seconds of action against the New York Knicks on Apr. 5, he reaggravated the injury that eventually sidelined him against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Harden played against the Phoenix Suns in primetime Feb. 1. Still, that next night in Sacramento—which proved to be his final game in a Nets uniform—it became obvious to Brooklyn staffers that he was offering minimal effort, even less than he had in that subpar performance in Minnesota. He took 11 shots and had more turnovers (six) than points (four).

When the Nets arrived in Utah for their fourth game of a five-game trip, members of the traveling party were openly discussing their desire to swap Harden for Simmons. Sources said that staffers and players had grown frustrated by the special treatment granted to Brooklyn’s superstars.

Harden didn’t arrive at the Jazz game until halftime; sources told B/R. Sources said that when it concluded, and Brooklyn continued with its planned itinerary to Denver, Harden flew to Las Vegas. Harden returned from Vegas to Denver but also showed up late for the Nuggets game.

Then Harden finally voiced what he’d been telling confidants for some time. He wanted to be traded to Philadelphia. He arrived on the Nets bench well past tipoff for Tuesday’s Boston Celtics game. Harden left Brooklyn on Wednesday and retreated to his old stomping grounds in Houston once more. While Durant and management labored over the Nets’ impending conversations with the 76ers, Harden stepped into another night of clubbing.

Based on conversations with Brooklyn figures and those close to Durant, the Harden blockbuster trade for Ben Simmons wouldn’t have occurred without Durant’s blessing. As more and more Nets personnel faced reality approaching the trade deadline that Harden wanted out, Durant’s approval mattered more than anyone else’s.

“KD didn’t want to get rid of James,” one person familiar with the two superstars said. “But he knew it was over.”

By Thursday morning, Durant dialed Nets general manager Sean Marks, sources said.

While Durant had initially resisted swapping Harden for Simmons, Harden had finally forced his hand. Brooklyn’s spiral of losses and Harden’s freelancing behavior created an untenable situation.

“Kevin’s the one that pulled the trigger with this,” another source with knowledge of the situation said. “Kevin’s the one that said, ‘Do this deal.’ There was growing concern that the Nets would lose this entire season, and then they’d lose James for nothing.”

“It’s a players’ league,” one Sixers source said. “No doubt about that.”

**Video by A.M. Hoops on the same report. The video leaves out some things but is generally accurate. I’m not a big fan of A.M. Hoops, but the video is good. The last, around 1/3rd, is his opinion. If you don’t want to hear it, stop the video at 6:19.**

[**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYWv\_X4-rHM**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYWv_X4-rHM)

**Personal Opinions (none of this is part of the report):**

* I agree and disagree with people saying that the organization should listen to Kevin Durant more. Organizations listening to superstars is good. Durant has made some good decisions like the Cam Thomas draft pick (yes, I still have hope for the kid) and the Harden trade (while this entire report is about why Harden left the team, I still believe the team didn’t make a mistake trading for him given that they were 7-6 before he joined, and him joining was almost a guaranteed championship).
* However, organizations need to find the right balance. Sean Marks has a mixed reputation among Nets fans. Some people love him; some people hate him. I think he’s over-hated, given that he listened to almost all of Durant’s demands, yet Durant wanted him fired at the end. Marks’s worst mistake, though, and I will agree on this, was not firing Nash sooner.
* Harden wasn’t the victim in this. He was a massive part of the problem. According to other reports, Harden told Durant he would sign an extension ([https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/03/31/report-harden-told-durant-last-summer-he-would-sign-extension-with-nets/](https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/03/31/report-harden-told-durant-last-summer-he-would-sign-extension-with-nets/)).
* And if you still think the Nets shouldn’t have traded away Harden, you’re an idiot.

by Weak-Delay6334