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Amid “Honest” Relationship Revelation, Doc Rivers Details “Egregious” Coaches Decision That Changed James Harden’s 76ers Career Path

Published 10/25/2023, 3:01 PM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

The Philadelphia 76ers have been in the limelight for the majority of the year. After all, their failure to get past the second round of the playoffs was covered extensively. Moreover, there were a whole lot of issues concerning the team like the relationship between James Harden and former boss, Doc Rivers, which caught the attention of the media.

Months after he lost his job, Rivers appeared on the Dan Patrick show. When asked about his relationship with the 2018 MVP, Rivers didn’t hold anything back.

Title-winning NBA coach gets honest on James Harden

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Doc Rivers has quite the NBA resume. He played 14 seasons in the league as a player but he majorly found his success when he switched to coaching. He won the 2008 NBA title with the Boston Celtics team and was the 76ers coach for quite some time.

His run as the coach ended on 16th May 2023, just days after the 76ers crashed out of the NBA playoffs. Days after this massive disappointment, Rivers was fired from his job.

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Months after this episode, the legend joined the Dan Patrick Show and had some fiesty things to say. According to Rivers, Harden wasn’t training right. Moreover, Rivers believes that Harden’s All-Star snubbing played a huge role. 

“Not making it to the All-Star team really bothered him. And I thought that was egregious that the coaches just didn’t put him on”, said Rivers. The 10-time NBA All-Star deserved to be selected according to critics and fans online. After all, he was leading the scoring during that point in time.

Rivers further touched upon his relationship with the 3-time Scoring Champ. “Our relationship, it was an honest one. It’s probably why I’m doing TV”, said Doc Rivers.

Rivers called out the voting system to support Joel Embiid

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid were all having great seasons. For this reason, Embiid was sacrificed from the 2023 NBA All-Star game as a starter. This had enraged fans and even Doc Rivers, who had spoken out against the voting criteria.

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“It is what it is. He clearly is a starter and I have to say I don’t—I knew they were out, but I didn’t know that because I don’t pay much attention, to be honest, but it’s the vote thing”, said Rivers after the All-Star weekend as per Fadeawayworld.

The coach had called for the All-Star game starters to be positionless. Moreover, he also suggested that the best 5 players of the Conference should be the starters.

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Do you agree with Doc Rivers? Let us know in the comments below.

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Written by:

Abhinava Ghosh

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Abhinava Ghosh is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports with a wealth of experience covering the league. He has written over 1400 articles for EssentiallySports, showcasing his expertise in analyzing and reporting on NBA trade rumors, injury updates, and the ever-changing dynamics of the league. He had successfully covered the entire Kevin Durant trade saga at Brooklyn, which led to the basketball legend’s move to the Desert.
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Edited by:

Saumya Khanduja