Sixers guard James Harden says he wants to play a season in China

James Harden made waves on Monday during his trip to China after calling 76es president of basketball operations Daryl Morey “a liar” at an Adidas-sponsored event in Beijing.

That came after the Sixers informed Harden’s agent that they have ended trade discussions and instead plan to bring him back for the start of the season. Harden, however, does not plan to attend training camp, going so far as to say he’ll “never be a part of an organization that [Morey] is a part of.”

Those comments immediately went viral, but it wasn’t all the Sixers guard had to say this past week. Since arriving in China, Harden also expressed to fans a desire to play a season there.

“I want to come play here one year, just because every time I come here the love is just, like, crazy,” he said. “So I feel like they deserve to actually see me come play here for some games. … The love is always crazy here, like, craziness, and they deserve good basketball.”

But playing in China might not be as easy as Chinese fans would like if Harden isn’t traded to another NBA team soon and remains adamant about not playing for the Sixers.

» READ MORE: Some follow-up thoughts on the Sixers’ options and the acrimony of the Harden-Morey divorce | David Murphy

According to the collective bargaining agreement, any player who “withholds playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract” could be deemed to have violated his contract and forbidden from entering free agency and signing with another professional team until the team he last played for “expressly agrees otherwise.”

However, it doesn’t seem like Harden plans to play in China in the immediate future anyway.

At a birthday celebration in China (he’ll turn 34 on Aug. 26), Harden said he made two wishes when blowing out the candles on his cake. The first, he wouldn’t share. The second, he said, was to “win an NBA championship and then next summer bring the trophy here to you guys and we’ll go crazy.”

Still, Harden’s anti-Morey stance is relevant to any desire to play in China, given the Sixers executive’s past remarks when he was still with the Houston Rockets.

“Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden said during a press conference earlier this week. “Let me say that again. Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”

The media and onlookers gasped at Harden’s statement before breaking into cheers.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ James Harden receives support from NBA players, China after remarks about Daryl Morey

Morey is despised in China for tweeting a since-deleted image in 2019 that read “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” It was a slogan used by anti-Chinese government protesters during the social unrest that rocked Hong Kong.

Morey’s tweet led to an NBA blackout in China during the 2019-20 season. The comments cost the NBA $150 million to $200 million.

While the NBA returned to the Chinese multinational entertainment conglomerate Tencent, the Rockets remained blacklisted by Tencent and state television broadcaster CCTV for the 2020-21 season.