Former Rockets Guard James Harden Reflects On Time With Nets: 'There Was A Lot Of Dysfunction'
The past two days have been a reunion tour for James Harden.
He faced off against the Brooklyn Nets as an opponent inside Barclays Center for the first time since his departure on Saturday. And Monday night, Harden will play against the Houston Rockets when the 76ers close their two-game regular season series inside Wells Fargo Center.
Playing against the Rockets will always bring fond memories to the former league MVP winner. Harden said he was in a "really good place" in Houston, and it took a lot for him to leave when he forced his way out in January 2021.
But when reflecting on his short stint with the Nets, Harden described his time as "frustrating."
"There was a lot of dysfunction going on," Harden said. "There were a lot of internal things that I will not put in the media or anything. But that was one of the reasons why I chose to make my decision. I knew what was going on, and I did not want to deal with that. I just wanted to play basketball and have fun while doing it."
When the Nets acquired Harden from the Rockets, Brooklyn had all but guaranteed at least one Larry O'Brien trophy with the paring of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
But 25 months later, the Nets imploded.
The Nets traded Irving to the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 5. And early Thursday morning, Brooklyn dealt Durant to the Phoenix Suns. Harden said he wasn't surprised Durant and Irving departed Brooklyn nearly a year after his exit.
The Nets won only one playoff series during his time in Brooklyn. And the Big 3 of Durant, Harden and Irving played 16 games together. They went 8-2 in the regular season and 5-1 in the playoffs.
"Fast forward to today, I don’t look like the crazy one," Harden said. "I don’t look like the quitter or whatever the media wanted to call me. Hopefully, everybody is in a good place now and we can move on."
The Rockets are on the verge of finishing with the league's worst record for the third consecutive season since Harden's jettison. They remain committed to rebuilding through the draft. But the Nets' failures could quickly boost the Rockets back to relevancy.
As a result of the trade that sent Harden to the Nets, the Rockets currently own Brooklyn's first-round picks in 2024 and 2026. And they hold the rights to a first-round pick swap in 2023, 2025 and 2027.
Harden appeared in 80 games as a member of the Nets. He averaged 23.4 points, 10.5 assists and 8.2 rebounds.
"We did not have a chance to win a championship [in Houston], but I was comfortable," Harden said. "For me to up and leave my family and all of the things I created [in Houston] to come to Brooklyn for, what, a year and a half? To just up and leave? It was for a real reason."
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