Last night time, as the Philadelphia 76ers entered the Rocket Mortgage Field in Cleveland, Ohio, they have been met with a well-known face, their former celebrity guard James Harden. The Beard joined the Sixers following his exit from the Brooklyn Nets again throughout the 2021-22 season. Shortly after, he inked a two-year take care of the storied franchise. So, you’d anticipate him to be completely satisfied to see his former teammates, proper? Well, not fairly.
At first, all the things appeared nice for James in Philadelphia as he developed a robust chemistry with Sixers middle Joel Embiid. However, issues took a flip when the franchise allegedly made false guarantees relating to a contract extension after his two-year deal, which included a participant possibility for the last yr, expired. Following this, James left the crew to hitch the L.A. Clippers. According to Embiid, James has not spoken to him since then.
Advertisement
Despite that, it was the Process who approached his former teammate final night time. In a clip that has been circulating on the web since final night time, Embiid is seen approaching Harden from behind, shaking his hand, and even exchanging just a few phrases. Although it’s exhausting to inform precisely what the huge man stated to the Cavs star, it seemingly had one thing to do with Harden being upset with Embiid.
“I know you mad at me, but I’ma say what’s up… I know, I know, just don’t be mad at me for it,” the former MVP seems to have advised Harden after exchanging greetings with one another.
This comes just some months after the 76ers middle confessed that James Harden has not been speaking to him ever since he left Philadelphia as a result of he believes that Joel Embiid in all probability knew about the whole scenario round his contract.
This is a bummer as a result of though the pair solely shared the flooring for a short time, they have been nearly unstoppable, as Embiid himself has stated.
Advertisement
In their solely full season collectively as a duo in 2022-23, Joel Embiid put up 33.1 factors and 10.2 rebounds, successful his maiden MVP title and his second scoring title. Meanwhile, James led the league in assists, averaging 10.7 per sport. The duo was additionally the first pair of teammates to steer the NBA in scoring and assists in a season since George Gervin and Johnny Moore did so in the 1981–82 season. Furthermore, Embiid has denied having performed any half in what occurred with the Sixers. “No one knows this, but even James is not talking to me,” Embiid advised ESPN. “Because if you ask James, he probably believes I had something to do with him not being here. And I’m just like, ‘I won the scoring title. You won the assists title. We had a pick-and-roll that was unstoppable.’ It hurts when you feel like you haven’t done anything wrong. When you think you have a relationship like that with somebody… you lose a lot.”
Nonetheless, that’s all in the previous as the two seemingly have reconciled, which could be a step towards rekindling their friendship. Meanwhile, James Harden placed on a present and made historical past throughout his crew’s 115-101 win over the 76ers.
James Harden leads the Cavs to a win whereas reaching a serious profession milestone
It was James Harden who stood out the most, with Joel Embiid watching from the sidelines final night time. The veteran guard scored 21 factors, together with 5 rebounds and 5 assists, to not solely lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to one more win since becoming a member of them just lately, however to additionally make historical past whereas doing so, as he drilled a free throw late in the sport to cross the 29,000-point mark. Harden completed the sport with 29,017 factors in 17 professional seasons, securing ninth place on the all-time scoring listing.
Feb 9, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden (1) throughout the second quarter towards the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
This put Harden amongst an elite group of gamers who’ve reached this quantity. Only eight different gamers have scored 29,000 or extra factors of their careers, and solely two of them are energetic proper now in the NBA, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. This goes to indicate the greatness of the veteran guard’s sport, and he’s additionally now simply the second participant with that many factors and eight,000 assists.
Advertisement
Thanks to James Harden’s performance, Cleveland and its followers have been buzzing with the win towards the Sixers, which was their 18th in the final 24 video games. This additionally improved the Wine & Gold’s house file since January to 8-1, with their solely loss approaching final Sunday towards a red-hot Boston facet. Now, they shift their focus to Orlando, whom they face subsequent away from house.
