Happy and healthy, James Harden is enjoying fresh start with Sixers: ‘It’s relief. It’s like, let’s just go hoop.’

BOSTON — James Harden is loving life.

No more tenuous situations or nagging injuries, the 76ers guard is ibn a good place. He’s been reunited with Daryl Morey, team president of basketball operations, paired with Joel Embiid in a city with passionate fans, and has an opportunity to contend for an NBA championship.

“These last two years, there was a lot of drama, a lot of negative energy, which I don’t really like too much,” Harden said. “Whether it was me getting out of Houston or what happened last year, it was just a lot.

“Here, it’s fresh. It’s relief. It’s like, let’s just go hoop.”

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The Sixers and the Boston Celtics kick off the NBA season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night in a nationally televised game on TNT. This will mark the start of Harden’s 14th season and his most upbeat one in a couple of years.

Harden’s journey to Philadelphia is well-documented.

The future Hall of Famer forced a trade from the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets nine games into the 2020-21 season.

He then forced a trade from Brooklyn to the Sixers on Feb. 10, reuniting with Morey, who was the Rockets general manager for 13 seasons before the Sixers hired him on Nov. 2, 2020.

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In addition to being unhappy, Harden dealt with nagging hamstring injuries the last two seasons. He missed a combined 18 games with the Nets and Sixers last season associated with left hamstring tightness. That came after Harden missed 21 of the Nets’ final 24 regular-season games with a right hamstring strain the season before.

He played in Game 1 of the conference semifinals against the Milwaukee Bucks, but exited after just 43 seconds. Harden returned and played through a Grade 2 hamstring strain in Games 5, 6, and 7.

He heads into this season finally healthy. He put in the work this offseason to get his body close to where it was when he won three scoring titles and the 2018 league MVP in Houston.

“I never want to take this for granted,” Harden said of being healthy. “I remember saying in interviews a couple times about resting and taking games off and things like that. I said obviously, if you’re injured, that’s well-needed. But for me, I just love to hoop. I love being on the basketball court.”

He especially loves having an opportunity to win the NBA title and being paired with Embiid, his perennial All-NBA team partner, leading the way. But Harden doesn’t want his team to lose focus by getting too far ahead of itself.

He keeps talking about hitting “singles” and taking a “game-by-game” approach to the season. With several new additions, Harden headed into Tuesday’s season opener fully aware that the reigning Eastern Conference champion Celtics will be a challenge.

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“But it’s about the long run,” Harden said. “I think the more we continue to head in the right direction and build really good habits, you know, it will help us in the long run.”

And he sees firsthand how Philadelphians react to their professional teams contending for league titles.

The sports atmosphere in Philly has been electric with the Eagles being 6-0, the Phillies facing the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series, and the Union in the MLS Cup playoffs.

“This culture of this city is second to none,” Harden said, “and honestly, they like, die for their sports. Obviously, the Eagles had a big win [over Dallas on Sunday]. … The Phillies are doing their thing. We are excited for our season. This city has a lot of happiness to be a part of.

“So keep spreading that positive vibe to root for the home team and keep the city lit.”