James Harden Says Sixers Was His 'First Choice,' Has Sights On NBA Championship

CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS/AP) -- James Harden has an MVP and several scoring titles on his mantle -- and now he's ready to add a championship trophy. Harden was introduced by the Sixers on Tuesday following last week's blockbuster trade that sent disgruntled Ben Simmons to the Nets.

Asked if his new team can win the NBA title, Harden put up the shot all Sixers fans wanted to hear.

"Hell yeah," he deadpanned. "My job is to help the team win a championship."

Harden says this is the place he wants to be.

"Originally when I was going through everything I was going through in Houston, Philly was my first choice, it just didn't happen," Harden said. "Details, I don't really want to get into the Brooklyn situation. I just knew for a very long time that this is a perfect fit. Obviously, you have the best big man in the league in Joel (Embiid). Obviously, the coaching. Top to bottom, it made sense."

In 12 seasons with Oklahoma City, Houston and Brooklyn, the 32-year-old Harden has made 10 All-Star teams, won the 2018 MVP and earned three scoring titles. He wants a title and thinks it can happen in Philly.

"I just knew for a very long time this was a perfect fit," he said. "It's an opportunity of a lifetime."

Harden missed his final four games with the Nets due to a hamstring injury and the first two since joining the Sixers. He practiced Monday and Tuesday night's home game vs. the Celtics and Thursday's road game against the defending champion, Bucks. Harden will also miss this weekend's All-Star Game.

Harden is set to make his Sixers debut on Feb. 25 at Minnesota.

"After the (All-Star) break, we'll get things going," he said.

Harden is excited to pair with MVP front-runner Embiid, who is leading the NBA in scoring at 29.5 points per game.

"I think we complete each other," said Harden, who is leading the league in assists at 10.2. "The whole world knows how great Joel has been playing. His presence alone is unbelievable. I feel like I'm the same way as far as making my teammates better, and we have a great core of guys."

The Sixers got Harden from Brooklyn hours before the trade deadline last Thursday along with Paul Millsap for Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and a pair of first-round draft picks.

Morey says there is no other way to a title and a team needs multiple superstars.

"We knew from the moment Ben asked out that if we were going to do a trade, it had to be for one that we thought would allow us to compete at a high level," Sixers general manager Daryl Morey said. "And the way this league works, you have to get players of the caliber of a James Harden to pair with a Joel Embiid and a Tobias (Harris). You can win without it, but if you look at historically, in this league, you're looking at pretty long odds if you don't have two great players at that level out there."

The Sixers were 34-22 on Tuesday afternoon, 2 1/2 games behind Eastern Conference leader Miami.

Philadelphia's front office is elated to have a superstar to play alongside Embiid.

"We've been looking for a player with a particular set of skills that's he's developed over his career in James Harden," Morey said. "Having an MVP and then a guy who's on pace to probably be the MVP if he can keep it up is really exciting."

Said coach Doc Rivers: "Being the winner is hard and that's what we want to become and that's why we made trades like this."

Rivers also said Harden's fitting in well with the team.

"He's a high IQ basketball player, so a lot of the things we do is stuff he does anyway," he said. "Some of the other things, we just threw him out there, had him do it, and he kind of figured it out, so it was good."

"The biggest challenge for us is to keep our rhythm and get him in his rhythm and on the same flow as us," Danny Green said. "And us being able to figure out how to play with him and vice-versa."

Harden's scoring average this season of 22.5 points is done slightly from his career average of 25.0, and he believes he'll bring more than just scoring to the Sixers.

"My job is to help be the leader, to push guys and get that swagger out of guys every night because ultimately that's going to help us get a championship," he said.

Harden doesn't anticipate problems playing alongside Embiid.

"We're both at a high level to where we'll figure it out," he said.

Harden, who is making $44.3 million this year, said he will opt into his player option of $46.8 million next year to remain with the 76ers.

Harden said he was disappointed things didn't work out in Brooklyn, where there were high expectations after he joined stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in a trade last season. But injuries and Irving's vaccination status led the so-called Big Three to play just 16 games together.

"Me and (Irving) are really good friends," Harden said. "That's (vaccination status is) his personal preference. But it definitely did impact the team because originally me, Kyrie and KD on the court and winning covers up a lot of that stuff, but it was unfortunate that we played 16 games out of whatever it was. It is what it is but being here in Philly is an opportunity that I'm looking forward to."

Harden's also looking forward to playing in front of Philadelphia's fans, who have been giddy since the trade announcement. Fans erupted when a video of Harden on the video screen that ended with him in a photoshopped Sixers jersey was shown in Philadelphia's last two games.

"These fans are the best fans in the NBA," he said. " A lot of teams say that. I'm just happy they're on my side and I'm not getting booed. Going to that arena is going to be special."

The first opportunity for the hometown fans to see The Beard at Wells Fargo Center is March 2 against the Knicks.

Morey, Sixers managing partner Josh Harris and Rivers all thanked Simmons for his time in Philadelphia.

CBS3's Wakisha Bailey and Pat Gallen contributed to this report.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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