After months of conflict with the Sixers, James Harden saw his wish granted Tuesday by leaving Philadelphia for the Los Angeles Clippers. The American guard, 34, was traded for Frenchman Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, KJ Martin and several draft rounds.
Harden will experience a fifth franchise in fifteen years after OKC (2009-2012), the Houston Rockets (2012-2021), the Brooklyn Nets (2021-2022) and therefore the Philadelphia Sixers, where he will only have stayed one year and half (2022-2023). Arriving on February 10, 2022, he had activated his option for a final season at nearly 36 million dollars (approximately 34 million euros) and was free to commit wherever he wanted next summer.
He will be associated in California with Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook, his former teammate in OKC and Houston. PJ Tucker and Filip Petrusev also make the trip to Los Angeles, the birthplace of James Harden.
Fourth team in 16 years for Batum
Collateral victim of this exchange, Batum, almost 35 years old (he will be on December 14), will experience a fourth NBA team in sixteen years. The captain of the France team arrived at the Clippers in 2020, after his debut in Portland (2008-2015) and his time in Charlotte (2015-2020). In three matches this season with the Clippers, Batum had not scored any points in the victories against the Spurs (123-83) and the Blazers (123-111) but had scored 8 points in the narrow defeat against the Jazz (118- 120).
