James Harden excited for fresh start with Clippers
Happy to be back where he grew up after a tumultuous exit in Philadelphia, the well-traveled former league MVP does not foresee a problem blending egos or divvying minutes with his new team
New Clippers guard James Harden arrives to talk with reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden listens to a question during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden smiles as he talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
New Clippers guard James Harden arrives to talk with reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden arrives to talk with reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden arrives for a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
New Clippers guard James Harden listens to a reporter’s question during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden considers a reporter’s question during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
James Harden talks to the media during a press conference at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista
on Thursday, November, 2, 2023.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
James Harden talks to the media during a press conference at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista
on Thursday, November, 2, 2023.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden listens to a question during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
New Clippers guard James Harden talks to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden met with reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
New Clippers guard James Harden met with reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Honey Training Center in Playa Vista. The 10-time All-Star was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
PLAYA VISTA — James Harden walked into his introductory press conference on Thursday in a new No. 1 Clippers jersey, looking like a player who felt comfortable in his surroundings. Comfortable maybe for the first time in his 15-year career.
He was back in L.A. where he grew up, where his family still lives and his friends hang out. It’s where he started his basketball career and now, is looking to potentially end it.
“I can fit in with anybody and make a championship run work,” Harden said. “So, I think all of us are on the same page in the sense of the individual stats and all those things are past us and we all got one goal and I think everybody knows what that is.
“For me, it’s just going out here and finding the best way to contribute to this team.”
Harden, 34, will be looking to fit in alongside Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook, all fellow Hall of Fame-caliber players with the same will to win. But how will four high-level players who like to have the ball in their hands get along?
Harden mentioned the same thing his new teammates have uttered over the past few days – they must learn to sacrifice their own games. As George put it, “understanding it’s one basketball.”
Harden said that shouldn’t be a problem. The 10-time All-Star seems willing to step back from being the No. 1 scoring option on the Clippers. He led the league in assists last season with 10.7 per game.
“I’ve been in situations where I play off the basketball,” said Harden, a three-time NBA scoring champion. “I was in a similar situation in Brooklyn where you’ve got two guys that can score the basketball and create mismatches with defenses.
“So, I’m fine on the basketball, off the basketball. Pick-and-roll, catching and shooting.
“We got a pretty good team and unselfish players where we can see that and let them go. For me, I think as far as scoring the basketball, I’m a very, very good basketball passer as well. So, I can facilitate.”
George said he doesn’t foresee a problem blending egos and divvying up minutes with this team.
“I think we think we can make it work,” George said. “We’ll figure it out. We’ve obviously got to practice, we got to play for us to really get on the same page and understand how to play on the floor with one another.”
Harden took part in a workout Thursday and will participate in Friday’s practice. He is expected to make his Clippers debut Monday against the Knicks in New York.
“I think obviously they’re already a really good team,” Harden said. “The coaching staff is really, really good as well. Then I’m, you know, I’m back home. You know what I mean.
“So, I just think the comfort level of me being back home around my family and then having some really, really, really good players on this team (is great.) And then basically all four dudes from California. This is a unique story. So, with all that coming together, it just made sense.”
As eager as Harden was to finally be in L.A., others within the organization were equally or more excited to see him in a Clippers uniform.
“I saw him for 53 minutes,” Lue said of the future he was imagining with the 2018 league MVP.
Harden said the main thing he is looking for out of Lue is trust and someone who understands him.
“I’m just not a system player; I am a system. You know what I mean?,” Harden said. “So somebody that can have that dialogue with me and understand and move forward and figure out and make adjustments on the fly throughout the course of games, that’s all I really care about. It’s not about me scoring.”
George, who supported the trade, said the Clippers have a rare opportunity to play alongside a player who has accomplished so much.
“It’s not every day you get a chance to get a guy of his ability that wants to come and play on this team, and we had an opportunity to get him,” George said. “I feel it was worth taking a swing on and we felt that he could help us. We felt that we all could figure it out, we could play around each other.”
Harden said that while the fans and his 76ers teammates were great, the situation in Philadelphia soured after he opted in for $35.6 million and then waited for a trade that was slow to materialize. The relationship between Harden and General Manager Daryl Morey eroded, leaving the 76ers with little option other than to ship off the star point guard.
Harden said he thought he would retire as a 76er, but “the front office had other plans. They didn’t want me, and it is that simple.
“There’s more detail, more to where I can’t talk about, but there’s a lot of narratives and I don’t have social media, but there’s a lot of narratives … none of that is true and I’m not the type to go back and forth or be explaining to myself because you’re always going to take something out of what I say and make it into a different story. So long story short, I’m happy I’m here. I’m excited to be able to show how good individually, how good this team can be and is going to be.”
