John Wall claps back at James Harden’s pessimistic comments

John Wall took issue with James Harden’s pessimism. 

The Houston Rockets are spiraling out of control this season, as James Harden’s trade request and subsequent lack of effort led to the Rockets looking completely non-competitive against the Los Angeles Lakers. With Harden going scorched earth on the organization, calling the situation “crazy” and “not good enough”, John Wall has taken a stance against his teammate, hinting that Harden himself is to blame for the rocky start.

Wall was not in the mood to entertain Harden’s defeatist attitude, claiming that wins are hard to come by when a player like Harden isn’t all-in on trying to help the team succeed.

John Wall is having a fine season in spite of James Harden

This is a pivotal season for Wall, as he is trying to re-establish himself as an elite NBA scorer after missing almost two consecutive seasons with the Washington Wizards due to injury. While Wall’s 5.1 assists show how much Harden is dominating the ball, his 18.6 points per game show that even without the ball in his hands often, he can still rack up points in a hurry.

What Harden is doing is one step short of blatantly quitting on his team, as showing up out of shape and failing to even attempt to get to the free-throw line shows that he is either completely disengaged or past his prime. It’s hard to tell which one of those realities would make it more difficult to get a haul back for him in a trade.

This season isn’t a joke for players like Wall and DeMarcus Cousins that are trying to rehab their value in the league, not is it for Christian Wood as he tries to make the leap from role player to star. Harden’s flippant attitude and poor body language is unacceptable, and Houston can’t keep him around much longer.