James Harden reveals he wanted to retire in Philadelphia but ‘lost trust’ in team’s front office

After months of controversy following his trade request out of Philadelphia, James Harden reported back to his team’s training camp at the start of the month and finally addressed his fractured relationship with the Sixers front office. According to the veteran star, the damage is done and can’t be repaired. 

The Beard, who is yet to play this preseason, picked up his $35.6 million contract options for this upcoming campaign with the belief that Philly would try their best to trade him out. Even though the club’s administration reportedly engaged in negotiations, nobody proposed a worthy offer for the point guard.

The 34-year-old then decided to call his boss Daryl Morey a liar while attending a promotional event in China as no trade was materializing. Since then, things only got messier.

“It’s not even about this situation. This is life,” James told the press this past weekend. “When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage. When you lose trust in someone, you know what I mean? It’s pretty simple.”

In the past decade, Harden has been of the best players in the NBA, winning three scoring titles and the league MVP back in 2018. However, he has a knack for requesting and then forcing a trade, as he’s done three times before in his career.

About returning to action, the veteran guard believes he’s ready to participate in Philadelphia’s last preseason contest against Atlanta this next Friday. When asked about his transfer request, he told the press they should ask the administration.

“You’ve got to talk to the front office about that,” he expressed. “I’ve just been here working my butt off. I love the game of basketball, so I’m just in the gym putting the work in. It’s all I can control.”

It seems that Harden’s disapproval stems from his belief that he should’ve been offered a long-term contract in Philadelphia after last year, but it never came and he decided to leave.

Harden assures that his biggest desire was to retire in Philly but this wasn’t ever a plan for the team’s administration

“I wanted to be here and retire a Sixer, and the front office didn’t have that in their future plans,” the 34-year-old said this Friday. “It’s literally out of my control. It’s something I didn’t want to happen to be in this position.”

The 10-time All-Star still wants to be traded out of Pennsylvania as he revealed that his relationship with his team’s administration is broken. This would be the third time that James tries to force his way out of a club, as he did before back when he played for Houston and Brooklyn.

"I wanted to retire a Sixer. And the front office didn’t have that in their future plans.”

James Harden says relationship with 76ers front office is beyond repair but intends to play

(via @KyleNeubeck, @PHLY_Sports) pic.twitter.com/UsQ6pgGvDt

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 13, 2023

As he doesn’t want to cause more trouble, he remains a professional and returned to training camp under new coach Nick Nurse. Now, he’s concentrating on working hard to become the best team in the Eastern Conference, despite Milwaukee and Boston’s favoritism.

“I’m here putting work in. that’s all I can do. I work my butt off,” Harden shared. “You can say whatever you wanna say about me, but you don’t get this far in this league without putting work in. That’s what I hang my hat on. So whenever things fail or things don’t go how you feel they should go, you just continue to work, and that’s it.”