Harden’s integrity was questioned by the “All The Smoke” podcast host after he attended Lil Baby’s birthday party and missed a portion of training camp.
Lil Baby’s icy birthday extravaganza was the place to be as the rapper reportedly received over $1 million worth of gifts during the star-studded event. Houston Rockets star James Harden attended the party, but the appearance caused him to receive a bit of backlash. We’ve previously reported on Harden’s alleged discontent with his team over the owner’s support of President Donald Trump, and it’s rumored that he’s looking to be traded. Yet, Harden’s career controversy wasn’t the highlight of Stephen Jackson’s rant on the All The Smoke podcast; instead, he called out Harden for missing training camp because he decided to attend Lil Baby’s party.
“It’s just simple, James Harden doesn’t want to be held accountable. [Mike] D’Antoni is the worst defensive coach in NBA history. Ain’t gon’ win sh*t. Ain’t won sh*t since he was the head coach. Easy to run over.” Jackson dug a little deeper by speaking directly to Harden.
“And then again, what type of dude is you?” asks Jackson. “The Rockets finally get a young Black coach, a young Black coach gets a opportunity, and you don’t wanna show up to camp. You don’t wanna play for him. How that look? And you wonder why every time a Black coach get a job, they put him in the bullsh*t situation. Look what you doin’.”
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Harden did make it to camp days ago after undergoing the Rockets’ mandatory six-day quarantine. “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,” Jackson adde. “But obviously, you wanna chase rappers around.”
Listen to Stephen Jackson below.