James Harden On Kevin Durant & Kyrie Irving Trades: "I Don’t Look Like the Crazy One"

BYCole BlakePublished on February 12, 20239.4K Views

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 05: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) James Harden #13, Kevin Durant #7 (L) and Kyrie Irving #11 (C) of the Brooklyn Nets look on against the Toronto Raptors at Barclays Center on February 05, 2021 in New York City. The Raptors defeated the Nets 123-117. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

James Harden says his time with the Brooklyn Nets was "frustrating."

James Harden says he no longer looks like "the crazy one" following the Brooklyn Nets' recent trades before the deadline. The team sent Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks and Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns. Harden himself left the Nets, last season, after a tumultuous stretch with the team. Harden discussed his tenure with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant following the Philidelphia 76ers' 101-98 win over the Nets on Saturday night.

"I didn't just ask to leave for no reason," Harden said after the game. "I was in a really good place in Houston. Obviously, we didn't have a chance to win a championship, but I was comfortable. So for me to up and leave my family, all the things I created there, to come to Brooklyn for a year and a half to try to just get up and leave, it was for a reason, you know what I mean? But I'm happy for the organization and what they've got back. They got some really good pieces."

James Harden's Comments

"Frustrating," he said of his time with the Nets. "It's a lot of what-ifs, I think when you play less than 20 games together. So it's a little bit frustrating, but it is what it is. Hopefully, everybody's in a good place now and we can move on." He continued: "I don't look like the crazy one. I don’t look like the guy or the quitter or whatever the media want to call me. I knew what was going on and I just decided to…hey, I'm not built for this. I don't want to deal with that. I want to play basketball and have fun"

Harden joined the Nets back in January 2021, immediately making the team a favorite to compete for NBA titles. However, their potential was never realized and the team failed to even make it to the conference finals. By February 2022, the Nets shipped Harden to the 76ers. Harden lobbied for the deal as he could sense things were moving in a bad direction for the Nets.

Harden also addressed whether Kyrie Irving's antics factored into his decision to leave the Nets: "That's not something that I'm going to answer. But the reason I made that decision to get out of my comfort zone which was leave Houston and do everything that I did to get out of there was to come in and play with KD and Kyrie.

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About The Author

Cole Blake

Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.