James Harden has been making headlines throughout this offseason, for all the wrong reasons. The 76ers star initially was reported to have demanded a trade, something that attracted the ire of the NBA community. Unshaken by the hate, the former MVP has doubled down on his demand to leave, even publicly criticizing Sixers General Manager, Daryl Morey, blatantly calling him a liar. Amidst all the controversy, his agent, Troy Payne sat down with ‘Swish Cultures‘. During his appearance on the podcast, he revealed his client’s mentality, before making a sizzling hot take about the upcoming season.
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At the moment, Harden is refusing to go back to the 76ers’ training camp, choosing to work out individually instead, during this time. Much like how Ben Simmons’s situation in Philadelphia shook out, the star is expected to lose a whopping $389,000 per game missed.
His decision to go against the 76ers’ demands is likely due to the star being disgruntled after Morey refused to trade him. And after his recent comments, the situation does not look like it will be getting better anytime soon.
Despite expectations of James Harden refusing to play for the 76ers, agent Troy Payne makes MVP prediction
The last time James Harden won the Most Valuable Player Award, was during the 2017-18 season. In the campaign, the then-Rockets guard averaged 30.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game. For him to win MVP again, it is likely the star would have to achieve a similar stat line, a tall hurdle, considering his notable decline since then.
Despite that, his agent recently revealed he wouldn’t be surprised if the players wins the award again. Explaining his ‘hunger’ and mindset at the moment, here is what he had to say on the matter.
“James (Harden) has a crazy hunger in him right now. Like, if he gets MVP this season, I wouldn’t be surprised. That’s what kinda hunger he got in him right now, just from the disrespect… 7 AM, two-hour, three-hour practice, workout, come back. The nutrition is you know, even from the discipline, dieting, if I just want to talk now, we could carry on for an hour. His discipline is crazy right now.”
Admittedly, there is little doubt that James Harden is truly working as hard as Payne says he is. After all, given all the hate he has been receiving lately, the man is likely planning a ‘revenge season’ of sorts. And that alone may be attracting a bunch of trade offers.
However, with Morey refusing to trade Harden, it does seem a bit unlikely that James will even be in contention for the MVP award during the 2023-24 NBA season.
So, unless ‘the Beard’ has a change of heart, and looks to play for Philadelphia during this upcoming season, things could look bleak for a very long time.
PJ Tucker backs Harden
As mentioned previously, the world seems to be against James Harden at the moment. Despite that, his former Rockets teammate, PJ Tucker seems to be seeing things a bit differently from the popular opinion.
It is important to note that PJ and Daryl Morey still seem to have a cordial relationship with each other. However, because of his friendship with the former MVP, he likely doesn’t mind changing that either.
