James Harden has the last word at the end of a loud night in Philadelphia

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PHILADELPHIA — Before LA Clippers point guard James Harden was set to do his pregame warmup at Wells Fargo Center, he emerged from the training room and into the visitors locker room to see longtime teammate P.J. Tucker holding court with the media. Harden had his headphones on, but he nodded as Tucker was addressing the assembled group one locker over as if to acknowledge that he knew what this was all about.

Tucker was included in the November trade that brought himself and Harden to the Clippers from the Philadelphia 76ers. Of course, Tucker was asked about what he expected Harden’s reception in Philadelphia to be like.

“Hey, I don’t know,” Tucker said with a wry smile. “I don’t expect it to be too pretty. It will be interesting.”

Some 76ers fans shared Harden’s ambivalence toward his return game in Philadelphia, where he played 102 games from February 2022 through the 2023 postseason. Some did not like how Harden went about leaving but also did not feel as strongly about keeping him in town either, especially considering the kind of contract he was looking for.

But the city of Philadelphia does not need a reason to boo you. Harden still supplied those reasons, opting into the final year of his contract for the 2023-24 season and demanding to be traded, with the Clippers outlined as a preferred destination. WIP-FM, the flagship sports talk radio station in Philadelphia, was more than happy to lead the morning’s discussion on making sure Harden was serenaded accordingly.

Harden emerged onto the court to go through his pregame routine, pointing both index fingers to the sky as he hit the floor. Before Harden got to the Clippers’ end, he stopped by injured 76ers guard De’Anthony Melton and 76ers assistant coach Rico Hines, greeting both with happy embraces. Harden was teammates with Melton last season, and he has known Los Angeles legend Hines for years.

As Harden worked on his contested pull-ups and pick-and-roll prep, fans who made it to their seats an hour before the opening tip had their cameras out to capture the moments. For layup lines, Harden worked out with Clippers head strength and conditioning coach Daniel Shapiro while the Kendrick Lamar verse from “Like That” boomed through the speakers.

The boos were teased during the introduction of starting lineups. Longtime 76ers public address announcer Matt Cord typically runs through the visiting starting five quickly, pausing just long enough for the Philadelphia crowd to chant “sucks!” after each name. Harden was introduced as the first player, right after Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue.

Once the game started, though? Philadelphia let Harden have it. Shooting guard Terance Mann inbounded the ball to Harden after Kyle Lowry hit a 3 on the first 76ers possession. Once Harden brought the ball into the frontcourt, Cord’s announcement of Lowry’s basket and Kelly Oubre Jr.’s assist faded, and the boos turned up.

Philadelphia’s cohesion was on point as well. As soon as Harden gave up the ball to Kawhi Leonard, the boos ceased in the arena. After Leonard missed his shot, the home crowd cheered Mo Bamba’s defensive rebound.

The opening quarter of the game featured a couple of missed 3s from Harden, as well as a fast-break layup that forced a Philadelphia timeout. Typically, that’s the opportunity for a player returning to play in the city of their previous team to get some kind of tribute video or other acknowledgment. The Clippers feted current 76ers Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington and KJ Martin on Sunday in L.A. with a short combination tribute video. Harden and Tucker got a welcome-back slideshow that was visible in the visitors locker room, but there was nothing of the sort on the video board during the game.

But there were jeers! One fan yelled out, “James! Where you going next year?” When Harden’s former teammate Tyrese Maxey fouled Harden through a 4-point-play opportunity, Maxey helped Harden up.

“I was telling him, when I fouled him, I didn’t want to try to hurt him,” Maxey said after the game. “And he was like, ‘No, you tried to hurt me!’ No, never bro, never try to hurt you, man.”

When Harden stepped up to the line to complete the 4-point play, though, he missed it. That was the first time Harden was cheered all night.

But Harden is used to this. He was booed in his original NBA location, Oklahoma City. Harden wasn’t booed forcefully in Houston, where he was the 2018 MVP, but there were some murmurs more than there were appreciations. Harden played his second game with the Clippers back in November in Brooklyn, and he was booed there. Harden took it all in stride then, and he did again Wednesday night.

What made it easier for Harden to embrace the reception was the final result, with the Clippers overcoming a 15-point first-half deficit to escape Philadelphia with a controversial 108-107 win. It was the second time in three seasons that the Clippers stole a double-digit comeback win on the road against the 76ers. Harden finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 14 assists, and only one turnover to go with a steal and a block in a team-high 38:33. After the game, Harden was asked about the cascade of boos that eventually decreased in frequency in the second half, once it was clear the Clippers were going to compete.

“I expected it,” Harden said. “They don’t know what it was about. But I expected it. So it is what it is. I don’t even know why they were booing, I don’t think. You ask them. They probably don’t know why they were booing.”

Harden has said he made sacrifices to help the 76ers when he was there, describing how he took less money in the 2022 offseason and played a lesser role than he is used to while sharing the floor with 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid. Those same sacrifices boomeranged into a loss of trust in the organization led by president of basketball operations Daryl Morey.

“For me, personally, I feel like I did everything I needed to do in the sense of, in the year prior, taking myself off of the max to help the team get better,” Harden said. “For this city, you know what I mean? And for myself, obviously. But to win a championship. So things didn’t work out. I wanted to get paid. They weren’t talking. So it is what it is. You move on, everybody’s happy, life is good. And I mean, everybody’s looking forward.”

His looking forward will not include Morey. When asked if he sees a day when he could patch things up with Morey, Harden said no.

“Hell no,” Harden said dismissively.

He also shared that he does not have a relationship with Embiid and hasn’t kept in touch with him. Even after two games against Philadelphia this season, Harden said he has not watched the 76ers. Harden has long embraced the city, even before he was a 76ers player. As a San Francisco 49ers fan, he would hit back at Dallas Cowboys fans in favor of the Eagles. He attended multiple Eagles games. Harden has been friends with Philly rapper Meek Mill for years. He had former teammates he was happy to see, such as Maxey.

“I’m very, very proud of him,” Harden said of Maxey, a first-time All-Star this season. “He will continue to get better, continue to grow. And he’ll be a problem for a very long time in this league.”

Harden also had the backing of his teammates, especially fellow future Hall of Famers who have had to return to old locales over the years. Paul George, who had the stop at the end of the game on Oubre, said the Clippers did not need to have conversations about Harden’s return to Philadelphia. They knew they had to be Harden’s support system.

“We’ve all gone through it,” George said. “It’s always bittersweet. And it’s always going to be bad blood when a player decides to play elsewhere. So yeah, that was his decision. And we got his back, through the process. And we were able to come out and play.”

The 76ers were the last of the other 29 NBA teams the Clippers played this season. This is the last of the four trips to the Eastern time zone the Clippers will take this season. Now that it is over, Harden can move ahead with his main goal in mind, to help the Clippers — and himself — win an elusive championship. But he is appreciative of being in Philadelphia. Even with the boos.

“I’m grateful for those relationships, I’m grateful for the opportunity and things like that,” Harden said before he left Wells Fargo Center with his team of friends and associates to go out into the rainy night. “Those things that I can cherish and move on with. Everything else? It doesn’t matter.”

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(Photo of James Harden and Tyrese Maxey: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)

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