James Harden wants to eat his hamburgers in peace.
The NBA guard clapped back at an ESPN Instagram post that featured a video of Harden picking up four burgers at a musical festival with the comment “Harden stocking up.”
“Slow news week?” the 10-time All-Star replied.
Houston rapper Bun B originally posted the video to promote his restaurant, Trill Burgers, as music festival attendees grabbed boxes of the food.
People in the comments were poking fun at Harden, 33, who requested a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers last month.
“I guess James Harden is trying to eat his way out of Philly,” one user said.
“James Harden is pushing himself out of Philly, Trill Burger style,” another wrote.
In June, it was reported that Harden would opt into his $35.6 million deal for the upcoming season with the intention of working out a trade with Philly.
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Harden inked a two-year, $68.6 million contract with the 76ers last offseason during free agency after being traded to Philly from Brooklyn in 2022.
Daryl Morey, the 76ers’ president of basketball operations, went on Philadelphia’s 97.5 FM last week to discuss Harden and what the team would be looking for in a potential trade and rumors their relationship had fractured.
“He’s wishing for a different situation contractually. … If we can do something that is win-win, helps the Sixers, then we will look at it. If we can’t, then we won’t,” Morey said, according to The Athletic.
Morey said that they’ll look to get a player in return that “continues to help us be right there like we were last year,” or, they’ll go through with a deal where “we get enough draft picks and things like that in a deal such that we can then turn those into a player who can be a running mate with Joel [Embiid].”
Harden, who averaged 21 points and 10.7 assists last season, removed any mentions of the 76ers from his Instagram and Twitter bios last week.
“If we don’t get either a very good player or something that we can turn into a very good player then we’re just not going to do it,” Morey said.
“If James were to turn his mind around we would all be thrilled… But at this moment he does prefer to be traded and we’re attempting to honor that.”
