James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers are on a hot streak over the past month, giving themselves plenty of ammunition against the many NBA analysts who chastised the organization for its November trade to bring Harden in. This week, Harden finally seemed to respond to the loudest of those critics.
Speaking in Phoenix following the Clippers’ nine-point road victory over the Suns on Wednesday night, Harden remarked on how those who doubted Los Angeles are “literally nowhere to be found.”
“Obviously it didn’t start off well. It gave people so much to talk about in a negative way,” Harden told reporters in the visiting locker room. “And now those people that was talking, they’re nowhere to be found. Like literally nowhere to be found.”
That likely is a callback to Brian Dameris of Bally Sports Southwest. Several weeks ago, Dameris went on an epic diatribe against Harden that spanned his entire history in the NBA and got pretty personal. While Dameris eventually apologized, that’s not something a professional athlete will soon forget.
To make matters worse, Dameris was absent from his duties as a studio panelist the next time the Dallas Mavericks hosted the Clippers. That kept Dameris from having to set the record straight on Harden’s success so far on a new team.
Harden certainly has provided critics plenty of fodder during his NBA career, but this latest saga is a little more complicated. If true, his claims that Philadelphia executive Daryl Morey went back on a promise of a future contract would be a significant breach of trust. And Harden has embraced a smaller role on the star-laden Clippers so far.
That may or may not continue, and Harden still wants that contract. But it’s hard to fault him for defending himself.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.