James Harden heightens Sixers, Daryl Morey feud with jersey-signing snub

James Harden is taking out his frustration with the Philadelphia 76ers on young fans hoping for an autograph. 

Look, James Harden is upset. He has every right to be.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, James Harden opted into the final year of his contract and requested a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. No long-term contract offers materialized before the start of free agency in July and Harden, with a pang of perceived disrespect, made it clear he had no desire to play in Philadelphia again.

Now the Sixers are shutting down trade talks and planning to bring Harden into training camp. That is, unless Harden holds out. Harden can’t really hold out, but he can make life extremely uncomfortable on the Sixers and feign knee soreness as well as the next guy, so hey — there are workarounds for that specific issue.

Harden made his feud with Daryl Morey public on Monday, spicing up a media event in China with a brazen comment directed straight at the Sixers’ president of basketball operations: “Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”

Morey is not exactly Mr. Popular in China, which adds another layer of hilarity to Harden’s bold leverage ploy. Morey and Harden have been joined at the hip for a decade since their close partnership in Houston, but it’s clear that bromance is kaput, done, finished.

How the Sixers and Harden proceed from here will be interesting, but Harden has made his unhappiness abundantly clear to all who will listen — including fans eager to have their favorite basketball player sign a jersey with his name on it.

James Harden allegedly spurns young fan with Philadelphia 76ers jersey

Now, important disclaimer, we can only put so much faith in the Reddit sleuth community. That said, one dedicated sole plundered Chinese social media for live reactions from the source. One fan alleges that Harden refused to sign a 76ers jersey: “I was stunned on the spot; my buddy and I put a 76ers jersey in front of him, but he wouldn’t sign it.”

That is objectively hilarious. We can only hope this is true. Harden rejecting Sixers jerseys at a fan event is peak NBA pettiness, another brilliant chapter in Harden’s prolific trade request how-to guide.

While the Sixers fanbase is having a no-good, very bad day, let’s take solace in the absurdity of Harden breaking his silence to muted applause at a public fan event in China, largely surrounded by young children who have no idea what he’s talking about.

Only in Philly, man.