James Harden continues to struggle with Clippers, blames not playing in training camp and preseason for slow start

Drew Smith
November 11, 2023
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I promise you that eventually, we’ll get over clowning on James Harden but unfortunately, today is not that day.

Harden has struggled in his first three starts with Los Angeles. The Clippers are 0-3 since Harden’s debut and it’s not just the win-loss record that’s bad. The eye test on Harden finding chemistry with his new teammates has been…something.

The Clippers lost Friday night against the Dallas Mavericks 144-126 and Harden went viral on social media yet again after a boneheaded play at the start of the second half.

Harden brought the ball up for the Clippers in the opening minute of the third quarter and passed the ball to Paul George, who clearly wasn’t expecting it. PG then tried to get the ball back to Harden as he (lazily) cut to the basket, but it was easily intercepted by Kyrie Irving.

James Harden passes to Paul George, quits on the play

James Harden is so unserious LMFAO pic.twitter.com/qDoqTninKp
— Lane (@CookedByLane) November 11, 2023

No surprise here. On countless occasions I have ripped Harden for playing exactly like what was shown in the video above. Off-ball he’s useless and when he does have the basketball, it’s just a ton of dribbling at the three point line followed by a step back jumper that has regressed over the past few years or a lazy drive to the basket looking for a foul.

Harden finished the game with 14-points on 3-of-6 shooting in the loss to the Mavericks and took an absolute beatdown pregame from the Mavs’ broadcast crew.

Watch: James Harden – The Problem >>

We’ll see how Harden works out with the Clippers. After saying that he’s “The System” and not a “system player” in his introductory press conference so he really brought all the criticism on himself.

Following the Mavericks game, here’s what Harden said about his early struggles with Los Angeles.

James Harden on slow start with the Clippers

“For me individually, this is only my third game. I didn’t have a training camp, I didn’t have a preseason, so everything is still moving fast speed for me. I need about a 10-game window then kind of see where I am from there.”

Right. I guess Harden forgot to mention that he didn’t have a preseason or training camp because he sat out due to his broken love affair with Daryl Morey? Last time I checked, the Sixers expected him to report to camp but instead, he was in Houston doing everything but playing basketball.

Oh well. Anyways, this wasn’t the first boneheaded play from Harden since joining the Clippers. There were plenty more, including an elite troll job from Brooklyn Nets fans.

You can check that out right here >>