James Harden is arguably one of the best scorers the NBA has ever seen. Besides that, he has a high basketball IQ making him a lethal weapon. Several teams would snag the opportunity to land the 10x All-Star. But only a few have had the pleasure to accommodate him. Recently, a post of Elon Musk’s X went viral. It claimed that a Saudi Arabian Basketball team was willing to offer him a $900 million deal.
🚨🚨🚨🚨 ESPN :
نجم السلة الأمريكي جيمس هاردن يتلقى عرضاً بقيمة 900 مليون دولار من نادي سعودي 🇸🇦.
⚡️ || هل تتوقع إختياره لنادي #النصر ؟ pic.twitter.com/T4zrGMNDbI
— كورة | #النصر 🦁 (@9NFCBALL) August 17, 2023
Unfortunately, the crazy offer was just another internet hoax. These days, social media accounts tend to make bizarre claims just to get attention. In most cases, this would’ve worked, but the lack of evidence and official news immediately called this bluff. But this does not avoid the fact that several Middle Eastern sports teams have been handing out massive contracts. Al Hilal recently signed Neymar Jr. to a $300 million deal.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe also got offered humongous deals. While there is no $900 million deal for James Harden, certainly, he does not want to play for the Philadelphia 76ers anymore. He was hoping to land a max contract which the Sixers failed to give him during the off-season. Harden requested a trade shortly after the botched deal but was convinced to stay. Eventually, opting into his $35.6 million player option.
Why did James Harden call Daryl Morey a liar?
James Harden shocked the world after publicly slamming Sixers General Manager Daryl Morey. While making an appearance in China for an Adidas event, he told his fans, “Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of. 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.” This was shortly after Morey and the Sixers board announced that they were closing all Harden-related trade conversations.
The NBA dug deep into this matter and recently slapped James with a $100,000 fine. “The NBA announced today that Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden has been fined $100,000 by the NBA for public comments on August 14 and 17 indicating that he would not perform the services called for under his player contract unless traded to another team. The league’s investigation, which included an interview of Harden, confirmed that these comments referenced Harden’s belief that the 76ers would not accommodate his request to be traded.”
Breaking: The NBA is fining Sixers star James Harden $100,000 for his recent comments referring to franchise president Daryl Morey as a “liar,” sources tell @wojespn. pic.twitter.com/UD2mOCOQRK
— ESPN (@espn) August 22, 2023
James Harden told the league authorities that Morey had promised to trade him if he opted in for the $35.6 million option. He stated that he felt betrayed by Morey when the Sixers announced that they were planning to keep him. The 76ers on the other hand want Harden to stay. They believe he is the only player that can lead them to a title.