harden Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Trade James Harden for Grade-A role players, you coward!
When Daryl Morey says he’s not going to be irrational with a James Harden trade, he is to be trusted. We saw what happened with Ben Simmons, and the plain-clothes staring contest that resulted in Harden becoming a Philadelphia 76er. It was an arduous ordeal that festered until mid-February 2022, and...

Joel Embiid sends warning shot to Sixers management
The Philadelphia 76ers have advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals in five of the last six postseasons. During the Joel Embiid era, that has been their ceiling chasing that ever-elusive Eastern Conference Finals appearance, which the franchise hasn’t been featured in since 2001. Pressure cont...

The Rockets have become the NBA’s most polarizing team
The Houston Rockets have been stuck in zero gravity since their post-Harden rebuild began two years ago. Despite their lottery successes they still have no direction. The Rockets lit the fuse this summer expecting a controlled explosion and witnessed the creation of the NBA’s most opulent sparkler....

Will the NBA’s new flopping rule really change anything?
The NBA is testing a new rule to dissuade players from flopping every time down the court. Flopping has become so common over the past 20 years that it’s part of the association’s culture. However, the league has finally decided to make an attempt to cut down on guys flopping all over the court....

Damian Lillard and James Harden need to exchange travel plans
The two superstars residing on the NBA’s bustling trade block have their bags packed. Damian Lillard has been hinting at Miami as his preference for weeks while the mutual interest between Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers is hard not to notice. Check back in a year and Harden may change his mind ...

Philadelphia should be ready to move James Harden along to the highest bidder
Here we go again with another episode of should he stay or go. This time featuring the Philadelphia 76ers and former NBA MVP James Harden. The bearded baller opted to pick up the last year on his current contract, which will pay him over $35 million for the 2023-24 campaign. While there have been ru...

James Harden is chasing an ideal that doesn’t exist
It’s fair to ask the question, what does James Harden want? Is it a ring? Is it a lifestyle? Is it his own team? The 33-year-old former one-man wrecking crew is no longer an indestructible pinball, bouncing off of everything, and amassing high score after high score. No team is going to hand him the...

Maybe Kyrie Irving believes in the Suns' rotation after all
It turns out that Kyrie Irving, the NBA’s foremost flat earther does believe in the Suns’ rotation. So much so that he’s considering joining it. At least that appears to be the case if there’s any veracity to Bleacher Report’s Kyrie code talker Chris Haynes’ report on the 31-year-old free agent’s sc...

Victor Wembanyama won't be NBA Rookie of the Year
Every betting site has Victor Wembanyama installed as the runaway favorite to earn Rookie of the Year. In case you want to start engraving Victor Wembanyama’s name on the award already, take a moment to consider this. Rookie of the Year hasn’t always gone to the incandescent talent from every draft ...

Chris Paul brings stability to the Warriors' dreadful reserves
Title-chasing leads to strange bedfellows. Steph Curry has now been tasked with accomplishing what Kevin Durant failed — dragging Chris Paul’s withering body to an NBA title. He’s no longer an All-Star caliber player, but there’s still something left. Now, the future Hall of Famer will be imported i...

Karl-Anthony Towns could have been Nikola Jokic in another reality, but not this one
“If you gotta say it, you ain’t it” is a phrase Minnesota Timberwolves big Karl-Anthony Towns never learned. During a recent appearance on the PatBevPod with former T-Wolves teammate Pat Beverley, Towns was inhaling too much of the copium pipe with Pat and in a fantastical excuse-making mood discuss...

The Rockets are the NBA’s most ambitious offseason franchise
After the Denver Nuggets championship parade, it will be the Rockets time to shine. The Houston Rockets’ ‘Light the fuse” mantra has encapsulated their offseason machinations since Jalen Green’s bold IG Live set the tone for the summer by vowing to reach the postseason in 2024. That’s easier said th...

What the hell is holding back Damian Lillard?
Welcome to Deadspin’s The Sports Nihilist, where all is for naught and we are but accidental jolts of electrified meat stuck to the surface of a rock in an indifferent universe. Fuck you....

Could James Harden reunite with Kevin Durant in Phoenix?
Just when you thought super teams were fading away, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne dropped this bomb on us. The senior NBA writer says to keep an eye on James Harden making his way to the Phoenix Suns, as this bombshell comes just a day after news broke about Chris Paul being shown the door. This is anothe...

Chris Paul is done as a starting point guard
On Wednesday evening, Bleacher Report insider Chris Haynes’ report that the Suns were prepared to waive point guard Chris Paul before a June 28 deadline which would guarantee his entire $30 million salary for the next season triggered a fury of interest in the 38-year-old. Shams Charania and Adrian ...

Is Nikola Jokic the NBA's best European player ever?
Nikola Jokić is on a mission. Of course, he’s on a mission to win an NBA title, but he’s also out to prove the doubters wrong. The Denver Nuggets are two games away from their first NBA championship after taking Game 3 on the road in Miami, 109-94. Jokić posted another 30-point, 20-rebound triple-do...

Investment into Heat Culture already has better ROI than cryptocurrency
Miami is home to numerous crash diets, fads, and fast fashions that disappear in two months. Even the weather is just as volatile. Noon Monsoons and sunny skies throughout the rest of the afternoon are a symptom of their haywire climate. Heat Culture and crypto are the most consistent staples though...

Boston’s ‘intimidating’ postseason home-court advantage is dead
Boston Celtics fans woke up Tuesday morning still stunned that their team lost by 19 points to the Miami Heat in TD Garden on Monday night in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Any hopes of back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals were ended by Caleb Martin. And the dream of being the first team t...

Dwight Howard turns troll and targets LeBron James
Apparently, former NBA star Dwight Howard has decided to troll his way back into the association, and now he’s going at the biggest dog in the yard. While he’s no longer the player he once was, LeBron James is still a major figure with tons of pull around the league. It might not be the wisest move ...

Is Doc Rivers about to squeeze his way into another primo job with the Phoenix Suns?
Anytime an upper-echelon NBA team is in need of fixing, you can always bet there will be a basketball exec standing over their roster bellowing for a Doc in the house. He’ll give your team a tracheotomy when you were just choking on a bone, but for the umpteenth time, Doc Rivers is in a position to ...