Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer wrote Tuesday about a “Cold War” between James Harden and Kevin Durant that led to the trade:

Am I a crazy person or has there been a lot of anti-Harden propaganda since the trade? It could be because reporters know Sixers fans will click on it or Sean Marks will talk to anyone who listens. He’s making the rounds to try and save his job and justify to the Nets fanbase that four first rounders and four pick swaps was the right move. Now Jake Fischer’s article was published today, albeit more focusing on Kevin Durant’s approval for the trade, but the main takeaway from the aggregator accounts is James Harden showed up at halftime of the Jazz game and traveled to Las Vegas while the Nets went to Denver. James Harden is a “bad teammate” –

The anti-Harden propaganda machine is working overtime right now! How did James Harden become the bad guy in all of this? The Las Vegas report was like 10 paragraphs in! Reading that entire article and coming away with “James Harden is a bad teammate” is like reading Green Eggs & Ham and thinking Sam I Am is the bad guy. We’re talking about a trade involving the NBA’s two biggest pariahs this season. Kyrie Irving is refusing the vaccine and Ben Simmons is refusing to play and somehow James Harden is getting the brunt of it. We are flipping narratives that Ben Simmons is some mental health hero because he got out of a “toxic situation.” I’m not saying Ben Simmons doesn’t suffer from mental health issues. Nowadays if you don’t, you’re probably in the minority, or you’re just Irish and you bury it. But don’t you think the NBA Players Association would’ve stepped in and reprimanded the Sixers if they thought fining Ben was out of line? Don’t you think there are plenty of mental health advocacy groups, who would love the free publicity, releasing statements condemning the Sixers?

Everything we’ve heard from national writers, talk shows, and NBA team writers is James Harden and Joel Embiid won’t work. Or James Harden is a bad teammate, he’s fat, all he cares about is life off the court. Which tells me they’re scared! They’re fucking terrified! All the Sixers needed was somebody who could create their own shot and score in crunch time to take the load off of Embiid and now they have that. The basketball dorks don’t want the Sixers to be good because they still haven’t forgiven Sam Hinkie for The Process. They don’t want this to work. KD’s waking up in cold sweats since Thursday having nightmares about carrying the scoring load again. Good! Embrace the hate. Today it’s “Harden is a bad teammate.” Tomorrow it’s going to be “the Sixers get too many foul calls.” They thought Sam I Am was the bad guy, too. Fuck em.