© Nicole Sweet | 2019 Nov 4
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that former Warrior Stephen Jackson has a strong opinion on James Harden’s holdout.
Harden has yet to report to Rockets training camp, and is reportedly holding out for a trade to a contender, rather than wanting to try and make things work with new teammates John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.
Jackson blasted Harden in a video uploaded to his Instagram account on Friday night, saying the former MVP wants to play for former head coach Mike D’Antoni (now an assistant in Brooklyn) so he doesn’t have to be held accountable.
“To me, it’s just simple. James Harden doesn’t want to be held accountable,” Jackson said in an Instagram post. “(Mike) D’Antoni is the worst defensive coach in NBA history. Ain’t going to win shit. Ain’t won shit as a head coach and he’s easy to run over. So James is trying to continue to be close to D’Antoni so he can’t be held accountable.”
Jackson went on to say that Harden is turning his back on new head coach Stephen Silas, one of the few Black head coaches in the NBA.
“And then again, what type of dude is you? The Rockets finally get a young Black coach,” Jackson continued. “A young Black coach get an opportunity and you don’t want to show up to camp, you don’t want to play for him. How that look? And you wonder why every time a Black coach get a job they put him in a bullshit situation. Look what you doing. What a real one would do is go play for that Black coach and make him look good and build with John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, some real ones. Obviously you want to chase rappers around.”
Harden, like Russell Westbrook, has reportedly wanted out of Houston ever since general manager Daryl Morey and D’Antoni departed this offseason. In addition to the Nets, Harden is reportedly open to being traded to Morey’s Philadelphia 76ers.