Clips' brass says Harden comes to LA eager to 'win a championship' - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — The LA Clippers believe that James Harden joins them with one goal in mind, and he is ready to sacrifice to win a championship.

Lawrence Frank, Clippers president of basketball operations, said LA has seen a pattern of Harden sacrificing his game to adapt to talent around him from when he was in Brooklyn during an injury-shortened stint with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and most recently with Joel Embiid in Philadelphia.

«James Harden should have been an All-Star last year,» Frank said of the Clippers' new star guard. «But he's a 10-time All-Star. He has an elite skill set and all he cares about is one thing: He wants to win a championship for the LA Clippers.

»He wants to be part of something bigger than himself. He's had all the individual awards. He's about doing something really special."

Furious with Philadelphia president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, Harden requested a trade to the Clippers and finally got his wish this week when the two teams struck a deal that became official on Wednesday morning.

Harden, 34, called 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey «a liar» multiple times during a promotional appearance in China in August.

But he looked very happy upon his arrival to the Clippers on Tuesday night when he was joking with former Rockets teammate Russell Westbrook and even singing «You Dropped A Bomb On Me» by the Gap Band in the locker room before the Clippers beat Orlando on Tuesday night.

Harden did not suit up on Wednesday but was on the bench with his new team during the Clippers' game against the Los Angeles Lakers. P.J. Tucker, who was traded from Philadelphia with Harden, played in his first game with his new team against the Lakers.

With four days off before