Get ready Philadelphia! Harden doesn’t play well with other stars

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

Newly acquired Philadelphia 76ers superstar James Harden has played with several stars in his career. Thus far, none of them have worked out.

Joel Embiid is going to be the latest in a long line of superstars to play with Harden. None of these have worked longer than three years.

And, sorry, Philadelphia, none of Harden’s previous partnerships have led to an NBA Championship. Don’t expect to win your first NBA Championship since the 1982-83 season.

The closest that he’s been lately to sniffing a Championship was with the Rockets. The team went to Game 7 on May 28, 2018, against the Golden State Warriors before struggling in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors won 101-92 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

Harden was partnered with Chris Paul that season. That partnership lasted two seasons before he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

A decade ago, he was part of the Thunder team that went to the NBA Finals.

The Miami Heat defeated the Thunder in five games.

He was with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for three years in Oklahoma City. Then, before the 2012-13 season, Harden was sent packing to the Houston Rockets.

“The Beard,” as he’s commonly known, also spent three years with Dwight Howard with the Rockets. 76ers defacto GM and President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey, who has a man-crush on Harden, is hoping that Harden and Embiid will play together for longer than three years.

Morey was dead-set on acquiring Harden from the first day that he got in Philadelphia.

Harden would later be partnered with Durant and Westbrook once again. Westbrook spent one season with the Rockets before being traded to the Washington Wizards.

Once Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, he was reunited with Durant. He was also partnered with Kyrie Irving in the New York suburb.

Following the Harden trade in January 2021, The Big Three played less than 30 games together in Brooklyn.

Based on the other experiments, look for this one to fail with Harden and Embiid, as well.

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