James Harden’s season came to an end at the hands of the Spurs last week, but the Rockets’ star and MVP candidate won’t be able to completely relax and take off for the start of his offseason just yet. An amendment to a lawsuit has been filed against Harden by Moses Malone Jr. — son of the former NBA legend — that alleges Harden orchestrated the assault of Malone by four men outside V-Live, a now-closed Houston strip club, on June 25.
According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the lawsuit states that Harden “paid [Darian] Blount approximately $20,000 to put a hit on,” and was in the club when Malone was attacked outside. The reason Harden was angry with Malone, according to the lawsuit, was that Malone had criticized Harden for charging $249 for a youth basketball camp, which Malone felt kept inner-city kids and those from poorer families from being able to attend.
Malone’s attorney, George Farah, spoke with MacMahon on Tuesday and claimed that Facebook post was mentioned during the beating and noted by witnesses as something that upset Harden.
“All the stories that we’ve heard from all the witnesses were pretty consistent that James Harden was pretty upset about the Facebook post that was posted the night before the attack,” Farah told ESPN. “There were text messages between Moses and some of James Harden’s friends. … We have a good trail of evidence that leads to James Harden’s involvement to this.”
Blount was a bouncer at V-Live at the time and allegedly stopped Malone and directed armed men to beat him and rob him of his jewelry. The original lawsuit filed in September aims to get $1 million for damages, mental anguish, and medical expenses.
