5 ways the James Harden trade could backfire bigtime for the Clippers

James Harden, Dom Kennedy, Jay 305 and Nipsey Hussle  (Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images)

Way #1: If the Los Angeles night-life gets the best of Harden

James Harden has never shied away from the fact that he is an avid partier and NBA franchises across the league have always been somewhat concerned about his off-court habits. One NBA general manager even told an insider last year that Harden’s habits were “legendarily bad”. Following his initial trade demand from Houston years ago, The Beard was seen partying in Atlanta during the start of training camp, as well as partying in Las Vegas before reporting to the camp.

Years later, his habits are still the same. While away from Philadelphia during training camp and pre-season, Harden was seen partying in various locations, and this time, one party included a sign that read “Daryl Morey is a liar”. Los Angeles is known as one of the best nightlife cities in the entire world and could end up being too tempting for Harden, impacting his ability to perform on the court.

This would cause yet another rift with another team and Ty Lue is not the sort of coach to just put up with bad work habits and play. The Clippers could easily turn to Terance Mann or PJ Tucker to join the starting lineup in Harden’s spot if The Beard’s heart and head aren’t in it this season.

There are so many ways that this can go wrong for the Clippers, Harden, or both sides. Only time will tell how this relationship goes, but history should tell us that Clippers fans shouldn’t have their expectations very high.