James Harden is officially a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. After things appeared to go firmly off the rails with the Brooklyn Nets, Harden was moved to the City of Brotherly Love in a gigantic trade that saw Brooklyn acquire a package headlined by Ben Simmons. Now, Harden gets to play his basketball in the place where he’s apparently wanted to play from the moment he decided he wanted to leave the Houston Rockets.
The trade came with some controversy, as Harden left the Nets amid accusations that he quit on the team. Harden did not play in his final four games as a member of Brooklyn’s roster, citing a hamstring injury. On Tuesday, Tracy McGrady sat in on TNT’s NBA coverage, and made clear that he thinks something funky was going on with Harden on his way out the door.
"You don't rehab a hammy by doing stepbacks." 😅
Tracy McGrady reacts to James Harden's first press conference and practice in Philly. pic.twitter.com/hk4J8x1iJy
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 16, 2022
“When you say you wanna play with guys that wanna win, what are you insinuating?” McGrady asked. “That the guys in Brooklyn didn’t wanna win? Is that what we talkin’ about?
“That’s what it sounds like to me,” McGrady continued. “And we all know that Philly was his first choice before he went to Brooklyn. So when things hit the fan, he wanted out of there. He shut it down. He wasn’t hurt, he wasn’t hurt. He shut it down.”
After Dwyane Wade mentioned by mentioning that Harden was shooting stepbacks in a shootaround with the Sixers, McGrady saw a piece of proof.
“My point exactly, you don’t rehab a hammy by doing stepbacks,” McGrady said.
Harden is not expected to play for the Sixers until after the All-Star break so he can rehab his hamstring.
