James Harden is looking back on his Brooklyn run with a lot less shine than the one he brought with him.
On an episode of Earn Your Leisure, Harden said he gave up money, scoring, and a piece of his own identity in pursuit of a championship, only to come away empty-handed.
“Let me just try to sacrifice the money, the individual accolades, all that," Harden said on an episode of Earn Your Leisure. "Let me just try to sacrifice and switch it up a little bit, and hopefully that’ll work in my favor in the sense of trying to win a championship.“
So that’s when the Brooklyn situation happened, that was tricky. We had the opportunity.
And then the Philly situation, where it’s like same thing: let me just be a playmaker, switch up my role.“ None of that worked.
Like, you feel me?“ I sacrificed money, I sacrificed being the top scorer that I am, that I still am and will be.
Long story short: it was for nothing.“ I lost a lot of money and I lost a lot of swagger on the court, just from sacrificing, thinking that all that’s gonna get me to win a championship.”
Harden’s time with the Nets was brief, but it arrived with massive expectations. After forcing his way out of Houston, he landed in Brooklyn to team up with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. When all three shared the floor, the “Scary Hours” label Harden used actually fit.
The problem was that the good version of that team never stayed together long enough. Injuries and other absences kept breaking up the rhythm, and the Nets’ rise never turned into the finish they wanted.
Even so, Brooklyn did give Harden a real shot. While Durant was sidelined for a couple of months, Harden kept the Nets near the top of the standings and even drew legitimate MVP consideration. He also looked comfortable taking a different kind of role, putting more of the offense in the hands of Durant and Irving while he focused on making everyone else better.
But the cracks kept showing. Hamstring issues hurt him in the playoffs, and he appeared to arrive the next season out of shape. His frustration grew, especially with Irving’s ineligibility, and it became harder to believe the group would ever settle into the chemistry they needed.
In the end, Harden never got the ring he was chasing in Brooklyn. What he did get, by his own admission, was a lesson in how much he gave up trying to make it happen.
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