The James Harden saga added an interesting chapter this week with a cryptic social media post.
The Sixers guard has made it known that he wants a trade out of Philadelphia, so some were quick to connect the dots on Harden’s Instagram story about it being time to “get uncomfortable.”
Kyle Neubeck and Eliot Shorr-Parks of Audacy’s original podcast “Clap Your Hands” discussed what Harden may have meant by his story and if it’s a sign of things to come for the Sixers.
“I think he wants it to come off that way and it could be something else where he’s like ‘Yeah, I’m OK just letting that simmer right now because I’m pissed at Daryl, I want to get traded’” Neubeck said (7:00 in player above). “If I was going to sit here and tell you ‘This is what it means’ I’d be lying to your face. It’s just another stupid thing about covering a sports team in 2023 that we have to figure out what this kind of stuff means or you have to pay attention to.”
In today’s day and age, people try to find any breadcrumbs left by players, whether it be removing a team from their social media bio or something else. Those things may matter in a way, but ultimately, it could be any number of things.
“Maybe James just had a tough relationship end with somebody that isn’t Daryl Morey,” Neubeck said. “I’m looking forward to see if there are more of these, I guess, but for now, it’s just a big old mystery.”
While Neubeck is in a wait-and-see approach, Shorr-Parks isn’t so convinced that this wasn’t related to his trade request.
“I think it’s clearly a threat that he’s going to cause some trouble if he comes in for the Sixers,” Shorr-Parks said (8:50 in player above). “I think he’s saying ‘It’s time to get uncomfortable.’ He’s going to do something.
“Now, you could argue for James like being in this spot in coming to a team, making it so that the team wants to trade him. He should feel pretty comfortable doing that. He’s done it twice before. This isn’t a new path he’s going down.”
Harden forced a trade out of Houston to Brooklyn early in 2021. He then did the same to Philadelphia just over a year later, so this isn’t uncharted territory for the 33-year-old guard.
“I do think this is a threat to the Sixers,” Shorr-Parks said. “The question is how seriously are the Sixers going to take it?”
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