James Harden expresses interest in playing in China / News - Basketnews.com

James Harden expressed an interest in playing in China, saying that the Chinese fans deserve to see him play there for their love to the 76ers star.

Credit: AFP – Scanpix Credit AFP – Scanpix

The James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers saga take a new turn as the 33-year-old expressed an interest in playing in China.

"Every time I come here, the love is just like, it's crazy, you know what I mean?" Harden is being quoted by Keith Pompey from the Philadelphia Inquirer. "So I feel like they deserve to actually see me come play here. Love is always crazy here."

However, such a wish is not as easy as it might look. According to the latest collective bargaining agreement, if a player purposely doesn't play for more than 30 days at the start of the season, it could be seen as a contract violation.

That would forbid a player from entering free agency and signing with another professional team until his latest team approves it.

Harden is currently spending his off-season in China, meeting fans and doing his commercial duties.

In one of these meetings with the fans, Harden made a viral statement, calling the 76ers general manager Daryl Morey a liar.

"Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he's a part of," Harden told the gathered crowd. "Let me say that again. Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he's a part of," he repeated.

Harden isn't pleased he wasn't offered a long-term maximum-level contract from 76ers president Daryl Morey this off-season.

Instead, the team picked up Harden's 35.6m dollar player option for the 2023-24 campaign. The Athletic's Sam Amick reported that Harden "no longer wants to play for Philadelphia and has no plans of taking part in training camp".

Harden averaged 21.0 points, 10.7 assists, and 6.1 rebounds in 58 games this past season.

He owns career averages of 24.7 points, 7.0 assists, and 5.6 rebounds in 1,000 games (786 starts) with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, and 76ers.

Harden joined the Sixers in the deal that sent Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, and Andre Drummond to the Brooklyn Nets.

Thank you for reading us! Help us even more.