James Harden’s last post-match press conference with the Houston Rockets, where he strongly criticized the team, followed a heated meeting in the locker room where colleagues John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins questioned him about his “level of compromise “after months of commercial rumors clowning out of court, reports say.
Several sources told The Athletic in a report published on Monday that first year coach Stephen Silas led the discussion after the Rockets suffered a second defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers and Harden was at the center of it all.
JAMES HARDEN MAKES NBA HISTORY ON NETS DEBUT
“The group was fed up with antics, tired of the headlines and constant questions about Harden’s state of mind and where all of this was going,” the report said. “And with each day that Harden stayed in Houston, his presence became increasingly heavy for a team that just wanted a sense of clarity and understanding.”
Sources said several players expressed dissatisfaction with Harden’s recent attitude and effort towards the team and when Silas asked players for their “unfiltered opinions” it was when Wall and Cousins asked for a direct response from Harden about his “level of commitment, “said the report.
After the meeting, players let the drama unfold during their zoom conferences.
“We are not even close, honestly, to obviously the title champions and all the other elite teams out there,” said Harden at the time. “We are just not good enough. Chemistry, in terms of talent, just everything.”
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He continued. “I love this city. I literally did everything I could. The situation is crazy. It’s something that I think can’t be fixed. Thanks.”
The comment on Harden’s “chemistry” makes sense after reports of the team meeting, something Wall also alluded to during his press conference.
“When the 1-15 guys are all on the same page and they are committed, they know their role, they know what they want to do, they know what they want to get out of this which is to win, all of you will be fine. But when you have certain guys in the mix who don’t want to buy everything as one, it’s going to be difficult to do something good as a basketball team, ”he said.
“We can’t keep thinking about it because it’s only been nine games. Come on, man, do you want to jump off the cliff after nine games? There’s still a lot of basketball to play.”
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Cousins addressed the situation the next day – before the announcement of the exchange with the Brooklyn Nets – and called Harden’s approach “disrespectful”.
“We feel a certain kind of attitude towards some of his actions,” he said. “Just the training camp approach, showing the way he did it, the antics off the court, the disrespect started long before [Tuesday night]. “
Harden said after his departure that the comments were not made out of disrespect and that he just felt that “the team as a whole was not good enough to dispute a title”, something he focused on at this point in his career.