James Harden Says There’s No Bad Blood Between Him and Chris Paul

Following Chris Paul‘s trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder, James Harden is clearing the air about any supposed bad blood between himself and his departing teammate. 

Toward the end of the last season, rumors swirled that Paul and Harden had reached a point where they could no longer play together. Unnamed sources said that Harden and Paul were at each other’s throats. Harden is now saying that all of that was just talk. While Harden admitted that they would argue, he said that it was nothing more than two competitive people pushing each other.

“Obviously as teammates, as competitors, we argued on the court,” he said. “The negative media stuff, it wasn’t true. … Me and Chris had constant communication.” 

This echoes statements made by the Rockets’ PJ Tucker, who called the idea of animosity between the stars “fake news.” 

“Everybody—I argue with Chris and James more than Chris and James argue,” Tucker said in an interview with The Athletic “It was what it was. Everybody’s mad. Everybody’s pissed. I argue with Chris and James more than Chris and James argue with each other. Like, I’m the center, focal [point] of the argument because I’m always yelling at somebody and they’re yelling at me. … You don’t think Kobe and Shaq argued?”