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76ers star James Harden has expressed interest in playing a season in China

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James Foglio
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James Foglio Sports Editor

James is a Basketball Insiders contributor. He earned his bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. James enjoys watching sports and helping gamblers win money.

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Updated17 Aug 2023

Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden has expressed interest in playing a season in China

Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden has always enjoyed his visits to China, and now the 10-time All-Star is interested in playing at least one full basketball season over there.

“Every time I come here, the love is just like … it’s crazy, you know what I mean?” Harden said. “So I feel like they deserve to actually see me come play here. Love is always crazy here.”

If the NBA loses Harden, it’s one less interesting player for the league. However, the three-time scoring champ would face obstacles to make this option a reality.

Per multiple NBA betting sites, the Philadelphia 76ers hold ninth-shortest odds to win next season’s championship in 2024. Check out which sportsbooks are showing better odds for the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Miami Heat.


“According to the new collective bargaining agreement, any player who ‘withholds playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract’ could be deemed to have violated his contract and forbidden from entering free agency and signing with another professional team until the team he last played for ‘expressly agrees otherwise,'” wrote The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey.

As a guest speaker at an Adidas event in China over the weekend, the 76ers guard blasted Daryl Morey, the Sixers president of basketball operations.

“Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden said. “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.”

Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden has expressed interest in playing a season in China after criticizing Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey

Morey is loathed in China for tweeting a since-deleted image in 2019 that read “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” This slogan was used by anti-Chinese Communist Party protesters during the 2019 and 2020 protests against the Hong Kong government’s bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance for extradition.

Morey posted this message when he was the general manager of the Houston Rockets. The tweet resulted in the Chinese Basketball Association’s suspension of its relationship with the Rockets. Harden apologized to China, saying, “We apologize. We love China.”

More importantly, Morey’s tweet led to an NBA blackout in China during the 2019-20 season. Of course, his comments cost the league $150-$200 million. The NBA makes at least $500 million annually from China.


Over the weekend, James Harden also refused to sign a fan’s Sixers jersey in China. “I was stunned on the spot; my buddy and I put a 76ers jersey in front of him, but he wouldn’t sign it,” the fan posted on Chinese forum Hupu. The messages were translated to English.

Another Harden fan wrote, “For insulting [Daryl] Morey in China, I must give Harden a big thumbs up.” Additionally, one other fan posted, “I didn’t expect Harden to be so brave and speak out on a sensitive topic? Is he drunk?”

On June 29, Harden requested a trade from the 76ers. This came after he picked up the $35.6 million player option on his current deal for the 2023-24 season. His player option is part of the two-year, $68.64 million contract he signed last July.

Harden signed his two-year deal last offseason after declining a $47.4 million player option for the 2022-23 season. In 58 starts with the Sixers this past season, Harden averaged 21 points, 6.1 rebounds, 10.7 assists, 1.2 steals, and 36.8 minutes per game.

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