Talking in China, James Harden Calls 76ers GM Daryl Morey “a Liar”

At the moment on a tour in China in help of his numerous business interests, former NBA MVP James Harden ripped into Philadelphia 76ers normal supervisor Daryl Morey.

“Daryl Morey is a liar and I’ll by no means be part of a corporation that he’s part of,” Harden mentioned throughout an Adidas media occasion in China. “Let me say that once more: Daryl Morey is a liar and I’ll by no means be part of a corporation that he’s part of.”

Harden’s remarks got here on the heels of the 76ers reportedly shutting down commerce speaking involving the 10-time All-Star guard. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Saturday that Philadelphia plans to convey Harden again to coaching camp for the beginning of the season. Harden has expressed his unhappiness with the 76ers and picked up his $35.6 million participant possibility in June with the intention to make it simpler for the Sixers to commerce him. He reportedly needs to be dealt to the Clippers, however Los Angeles has not met Philly’s asking worth to date.

Harden is aware of Morey properly as he was the final supervisor in Houston when the 33-year-old was an MVP-caliber participant for the Rockets. Throughout that interval, Morey triggered a stir that price the NBA hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in misplaced income when he posted a message of help to protestors in Hong Kong by way of his Twitter account. The 2019 message learn “Combat for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” and it was later deleted after Rockets proprietor Tilman Fertitta famous that Morey’s remark was not on behalf of the crew.

 The tweet, which led to the NBA being pulled off the airwaves in China, led Morey to worry for his security and the protection of his household. “I used to be really actually, actually apprehensive about that,” Morey advised ESPN in 2020. “Fortunately I had [access to] completely different individuals who have been helping me with that and giving me recommendation on learn how to deal with it. Hopefully, I’ve been in a position to get the place we now have some stage of security. However I used to be extraordinarily involved. You don’t need the second-most highly effective authorities on Earth mad at you, if you happen to can keep away from it. On this case, I couldn’t.”

On condition that Morey is firmly on file as a Hong Kong supporter, it’s pretty telling that Harden determined to tear into him whereas talking in China, as he should have identified his remarks could be well-received. It ought to make coaching camp, which is about to open in October, in Philadelphia very, very awkward until a deal to maneuver Harden is reached. If he does get dealt, Harden shall be enjoying for his third crew in three seasons after forcing his approach out of Houston to get to Brooklyn after which pressuring the Nets to deal him to Philly.