James Harden rips into Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley after Nets debut: “We talk about upliftment but these talking heads do the opposite on TV”

James Harden had a message for his detractors following a record-breaking Nets debut. He took aim at talking heads who’ve ‘brought him down’.

Harden made the PR nightmare of coming out and saying to the media that he didn’t have belief in his Rockets team. While it brought him hate and disrespect from all quarters, he got what he wanted – a trade to a ‘real’ contender.

No team has better high-end offensive firepower than the Nets now have in their ranks. In KD and Harden, they have the winners of 7 of the last 11 scoring titles. Add Kyrie Irving’s GOAT-level handles to the mix, and you begin to be concerned about them no matter who you stan.

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James Harden is currently in the middle of one of the most dominant regular season careers we’ve ever seen. The 3-time scoring champ has been raining 3-pointers down with total abandon. He made 378 3-pointers in the 2018-19 season – second only to Steph Curry’s 402 in 2015-16.

James Harden criticizes Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley for ‘bringing him down’

The Harden trade sent shockwaves across the league. He got flamed from all quarters for the way he jumped ship, but there were also people who criticized his time at Houston. This didn’t sit right with the Beard, as it didn’t with Dwyane Wade. Flash tweeted his support of the 2017-18 MVP.

Harden featured this tweet on his Instagram story last night, in addition to a couple of other things.

 

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Shaquille O’Neal had accused Harden of not giving the Rockets his best in the playoffs. Charles Barkley went further and called him a selfish player chasing stats, and incapable of sacrificing them to better his team.

While Shaq’s criticism is based on his performances and stands valid, Chuck made some unfair accusations. Harden was more than ready to give up the ball to Chris Paul. He’s been quoted several times as to having a desire to play in an offense with ball movement.

Harden put up these gaudy stats because there was no other way for his teams to win. If he’d ‘sacrificed’, they wouldn’t have made 8 straight playoffs and two Conference Finals appearances. They didn’t have the talent to hang with the best teams in the league.