Brooklyn Nets star James Harden apologized for the end of his era at the Houston Rockets, telling ESPN’s Rachel Nichols that he felt last month’s run-up to last month’s transaction could have been easier.
“I didn’t like it at all because I’m not like that,” Harden said when asked to reflect on the weeks leading up to the trade. “The drama, the extra whatever you want to call it, the negativity for me. I really don’t like the negative energy. That’s exhausting. So I don’t like how it necessarily happened.
“I feel like it could have been a lot smoother, a lot easier, but it is what it is.”
Harden’s desire to leave Houston after eight years as a title contender was an open secret in the weeks leading up to the season. He started the year with a $ 50,000 fine for violating COVID-19 protocols after the League watched a video of him socializing in a club without wearing a mask.
Things came to a head after a Jan. 12 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, when Harden stated that the Rockets were “just not good enough” and that it was a “can’t fix” situation.
Harden was traded to the Nets the next day.
The ex Most valuable player He told Nichols that he was not trying to be selfish and that “the front office knew where I was and what I wanted.”
“I apologize for what happened, but I think I had to do what I had to do to get where I wanted to go,” said Harden. And I give credit to Houston, they didn’t necessarily have to trade me to Brooklyn. They could have traded me anywhere. And it ended in the right way, but I just didn’t like how those two months went. “