James Harden has the Houston Rockets primed for a run at an NBA title, even in a Western Conference where the Golden State Warriors still loom large.
The NBA world can be fickle, and competition can easily get in the way of friendship when the postseason begins. But Harden says there’s another danger lucking out there for NBA stars: their mothers.
The Rockets superstar and presumptive NBA MVP was profiled in GQ and shared a delightful truth of modern NBA life: players’ moms get together and form friendships of their own. But that isn’t always a good thing if you’re a bad son.
Harden said one of the keys to his success is to spend more time with his mom, then shared an adorable anecdote about how NBA moms essentially get together to drag their sons.
Harden takes evident pride that his career has enabled his mother, Monja Willis, to have an NBA life of her own. Willis is one of a bumper crop of delightful NBA moms, led by Draymond Green’s mom, Mary Babers-Green, and Kevin Durant’s “real MVP,” Wanda. They are funny, salty, ferociously protective of their sons, and living their best lives on Instagram. “My mom—she hangs out with, like, moms of other players that I don’t even talk to,” Harden says, amused.
How does that happen?
“There are mom meetings, things like that.”
You’re joking, right?
“No, I’m serious. Mom meetings. That makes me happy, ’cause they get to talk about their sons behind our backs. She deserves that.”
Harden says he’s accomplished nothing this season if the Rockets don’t take home an NBA title, but it’s good to know his mom will be proud of him no matter what happens. It seems like they get along great.
