James Harden wants 76ers to FIRE Doc Rivers, claims NBA Insider
Internal tussle takes over the Philadelphia 76ers locker room as James Harden isn’t ready to work with Head Coach Doc Rivers.
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James Harden and Doc Rivers
The Philadelphia 76ers suffered one of the most embarrassing playoff losses in Game 7 to the Boston Celtics. The Jayson Tatum-led Celtics dominated the Sixers, 112-88, to get a 24-point victory and kick them out of the playoffs. What makes it worse is that this is the Sixers’ second consecutive Round 2 exit from the playoffs. It also marks the sixth time they’ve been thrown out of the playoffs before reaching the Conference Finals in the past six years. Finally, the organization will have to take a massive call about their hotshots James Harden, Doc Rivers, and Joel Embiid.
Tension is running high in the Sixers’ front office as James Harden has given an ultimatum. Per ESPN Analyst Ramona Shelbourne, James Harden doesn’t want to play under Doc Rivers as the head coach.
Shelbourne said, “They have to start with the decision, do you want to move forward with James Harden and Joel Embiid as your pairing? Is this your superstar pair moving forward?,” as she asked the major question. She then added, “Because James Harden can become a free agent. Which means that you have to decide if you want to give him a four-year contract. You want to lock this in for the next four years.”
Shelbourne then added, “That decision, from what I understand… now becomes tied to the decision about Doc Rivers.” Speaking about Harden’s press conference, she said, “Harden was not all that supportive of Doc Rivers in his press conference yesterday.”
Shelbourne then dropped the bomb about Harden’s unwillingness to play with coach Rivers. She said, “Behind the scenes, from what I’m told. One person said to me it would be hard for me to see James wanting to come back and play for Doc again.”
James Harden’s future ahead lies with the Houston Rockets or the Philadelphia 76ers?
Harden and the 76ers, after suffering this tragic loss to the Celtics, have some major decisions to make. The 76ers need to make bigger organizational changes considering their track record in the playoffs. Their performances in the playoffs have been nothing short of awful as they consistently fail, and can’t go beyond Round 1 or 2. Will they fire their Head Coach Doc Rivers or will they make some changes with their superstar duo of Harden and Embiid?
None of the parties involved had good things to say about each other during the press conference. This signals that some decisions will definitely have to be made by the front office.
For Harden, on the other hand, there lies a clear choice between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Houston Rockets. Harden, post this season becomes a free agent, meaning, he could be pursued by any team in the league. Houston Rockets, who recently hired Ime Udoka as their head coach plan on pursuing Harden. Though, for “The Beard”, if his demands with the 76ers are met, the player might want to spend more time here.
It’ll be interesting to see how the 76ers plan on resolving this matter as the drama will further unfold. Stay tuned for all the latest updates!
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Harshit Singh
(434 Articles Published)