James Harden claimed that he’s willing to play with whatever money is ‘left over’ after signing the necessary pieces required to win a championship. In fact, the 32-year-old guard revealed that he’s so desperate to win a chip that he doesn’t mind taking a financial hit. Furthermore, James Harden also addressed the sharp media criticism targeted towards him for his performance last season.

The NBA media has been very critical of James Harden’s performance in the 2022 playoffs. In fact, the prevalent media narrative scapegoated Harden for the 76ers’ 4-2 loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Miami Heat. The veteran guard addressed the criticism of fans and the media in a recent interview.

James Harden addresses media criticism

James Harden responded to the predominant narrative in the media concerning him in a recent interview. “I don’t really listen to what people are saying. I wasn’t right last season and I still almost averaged a triple-double,” he told Yahoo Sports.

“If anybody else had those numbers, we’d be talking about them getting the max. People were used to seeing me averaging 40, 30 points, and so they viewed it as a down year“, added the 2018 MVP.

Incidentally, Harden averaged 21 points, 10.5 assists, and 7.1 rebounds last season with the sixers. However, he was nowhere close to his MVP-caliber performances with the Rockets from a few years back.

Philly signed Harden from Brooklyn in February of this year. However, the 10-time All-Star failed to complement center Joel Embiid to make it to the Conference Finals. As a result, fans and the media started to speculate that Harden has reached the very end of his career.

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The 32-year-old suffered a Grade 2 strain during his stint with the Nets. The injury has bothered him since the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals. In other words, the three-time scoring champion hasn’t been the same ever since.

Harden agrees to accept whatever’s ‘left over’ for a chip

James Harden revealed he is desperate to win a championship in the next few years. Therefore, he’s willing to take a hit financially to allow the sixers the cap space to sign more players.

” I told Daryl [Morey] to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever is left over“, revealed the 6’5” guard.

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Can Harden make a comeback next season? Let us know in the comments.