Remaining steadfast in his push for a trade, Houston Rockets superstar guard James Harden doubled-down on his stance, saying that he doesn’t believe things can be fixed between he and the organization.
“I love this city. I literally have done everything that I can,” Harden said, following the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. “I mean, this situation is crazy. It’s something that I don’t think can be fixed.”
The Rockets have look lackluster since Harden returned from a right ankle sprain, losing four of the five games played since he returned to play, and looking outmatched on the court. Harden has failed to maintain his prior level of play, and has scored 20 points or fewer over the past four games.
“We’re not even close, honestly, to that team — obviously the defending champions — and all the other elite teams out there,” Harden said, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “I mean, you can tell the difference in these last two games.
“We’re just not good enough — chemistry, talentwise, just everything. And it was clear these last two games.”
Harden abruptly ended his new conference after answering only two questions, but Rockets point guard John Wall spoke about players who have personal agendas, can bring down a team.
“He’s talking to his own opinion. I can’t know what he thinks about the team or what he feels like we are,” Wall said. “I know how much hard work these guys put in … to try to get better every day. I know how much work I put into it to get back and compete at a high level.
“There’s a lot of guys here that want to compete at a high level. Like I told everybody tonight and told the guys before, when one through 15 guys are all on the same page and they commit and they know their role and they know what they want to get out of this and that’s to win, it’ll all be fine. But when you have certain guys in the mix that don’t want to buy in all as one, it’s going to be hard to do anything special or anything good as a basketball team.”
