James Harden has spoken.
The Rockets guard broke his silence Wednesday and addressed the media for the first time since his brief holdout with Houston earlier this preseason. But he wasn’t exactly chatty.
Harden, as you likely remember, missed the start of training camp after spending some extended time in Atlanta and Las Vegas. And naturally, he was asked about what kind of point he wanted to make by doing so.
So, what was his excuse?
“I was just training,” he told reporters, via ESPN 97.5’s Salman Ali.
When asked what he was training for, he simply said, “The start of the NBA season,” noting he was with “personal trainers.”
Interesting.
Harden didn’t appear to miss a beat in his first game of the preseason, posting 12 points, three rebounds and four assists Tuesday night. He did acknowledge he’s “in catch-up mode” at the moment, but confirmed he’s “focused on” being in Houston and helping the team improve.
“Today was good. Yesterday felt really good being out there for the first time since the bubble,” Harden said Wednesday. “I haven’t really had the opportunity to do a lot of 5-on-5 work, but for my first time being out there, it felt pretty good.”
We’re sure there’s some sort of honestly behind his personal trainers claim. But based on his general demeanor lately, including Wednesday’s presser, something tells us there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
