James Harden responded to the decision from the Philadelphia 76ers that they’ve ended trade talks by calling Daryl Morey “a liar.” Harden’s representatives reportedly communicated to the Sixers that there would be a response to escalate the situation. Harden would like a trade from the Sixers to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“When James Harden and his agents were informed over the weekend that they were not going to continue with trade talks,” said Brian Windhorst on ESPN on Wednesday. “That Philadelphia was going to shut that down. You can imagine he was very upset.
“It was communicated to the Sixers that they were going to put them in some pain as a result of this. That’s what James Harden did with those comments on Monday morning in China. He put the Sixers in some pain.
“My guess is he may not be done with it. There may be other opportunities for him to really squeeze the Sixers to try to make them to reconsider this position.
“I think his frustration is that they won’t trade him. He understood that his contract wasn’t going to be extended there. In lieu of that, he wanted to get traded. When that didn’t happen, obviously you can see he’s lashing out. Unfortunately, the situation has really deteriorated from what I’ve been told.”
Ramona Shelburne also said she was told “this is just the beginning.”