Earlier this week, James Harden came out and called Sixers president Daryl Morey a liar while declaring he wouldn’t play for him again and now a former 76ers player has weighed in on Harden’s words.
Four-time NBA champion Andre Iguodala thinks Harden did the right thing by calling out Morey, especially because his contract negotiations were poorly handled by the franchise.
“When you go into a contract negotiation, know what your value is and how you can leverage yourself,” Iguodala said on Gil’s Arena. “Know what opportunities you have on the other side, like to your safety net. What is James’ safety net?
“Daryl Morey has a history with China, where he can say something, and the backlash from what he says, there may not be any because there’s a history there with Morey and China. So, it was a great move out of leverage by James, one, because it’s gonna be hard to discipline James, because what did he do wrong? Right? And James will sell some shoes. That’s ultimately why he’s over there.”
The 39-year-old believes that Harden was only fighting for what his value is and took his opportunity on a global stage to try and turn his situation around.
“They always put players in a certain light, and what you’re hearing a lot now is, players, have too much power because we’re getting smarter and smarter,” Iguodala said. “Because we know how to move and we know how to say certain things, and we know how to use our leverage, because when we make mistakes, it’s used against us, correct? When they make mistakes, we’ve never put ourselves in the position to use their mistakes against them as well, and I just think he just had a perfect opportunity.”
Unfortunately for Morey and the Sixers, NBA insider Ramona Shelburne says that this is only the first domino to fall in what will be a very uncomfortable time for the team – Harden will make sure of that.
“Somebody said to me yesterday, ‘This is only the beginning. This is just the beginning of what James Harden is going to do to make life very uncomfortable for the Philadelphia 76ers going into training camp,’” Shelburne said recently.
Looks like these won’t be the only words Harden has to say about Morey and or Philly.
Buckle up people, this is going to be a bumpy ride!