Getty James Harden and Kyrie Irving at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
Before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets, eight-time all-star James Harden went through an ugly separation process with his former team, the Houston Rockets. While Harden did eventually get traded to his preferred destination, many people like former Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green disagree with how Harden handled the situation.
Although Green may have handled the situation differently if he were in Harden’s position, he thinks the narrative that surrounded Harden’s trade speaks to a much larger issue in sports.“
Draymond Green Sounds off on Harden’s Trade To Nets
“When James Harden asked for a trade and essentially dogged it, no one’s going to fight back that James was dogging it his last days in Houston, but he was castrated for wanting to go to a different team. And everybody destroyed that man,” Green said to reporters via the New York Post.
Recently both Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin made headlines as their respective teams announced publicly that they would be essentially “shutting down” both players as they look to find a viable trade partner that makes moving the star big men worth the team’s while.
Green Disagrees With the Double Standard of Trades
“It’s the treatment of players in this league. To watch Andre Drummond, before the game, sit on the sidelines, then go to the back, and to come out in street clothes because a team is going to trade him, it’s bulls—t.” Green said.
“Everyone wants to say, ‘that young man can’t figure it out.’ But no one wants to say the organization can’t figure it out.”
Draymond Green sounds off on a double standard he sees in the NBA.
Players are often vilified for wanting to go to another team but when owners engage in trade talks to move players it is viewed as a good business decision. Fans and players like Green have seen it happen on several occasions.
“And we’ve seen situations of Harrison Barnes getting pulled off the bench,” The former all-star continued. “Or DeMarcus Cousins finding out he’s traded in an interview after the All-Star Game, and we continue to let this happen. But I got fined for stating my opinion on what I thought should happen with another player, but teams can come out and continue to say, ‘Oh, we’re trading guys, we’re not playing you.’ And yet we’re to stay professional.”
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Harden Agrees That He Could Have Handled the Trade Better
While Harden is excited to be in his new home in Brooklyn, the 2018 Most Valuable Player wishes that his exit from the Rockets could have gone a lot smoother than it did.
“Apologize for how it went down, but I guess I had to do what I had to do in order to get to where I wanted to go,” Harden said to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. “And credit to Houston, they didn’t necessarily have to trade me to Brooklyn. They could have traded me anywhere, but those are some stand-up guys over there. And it ended up the right way, but just didn’t like how that month or two played out.”
Harden currently leads the league in assists while the Nets sit at third place in the Eastern Conference. The Rockets are 13th in the Western Conference. It’s safe to say that “The Beard”made the right decision.
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