Ric Bucher: Beard Harden Wants Out Because Tilman Fertitta's Support For Donald Trump

[Tracymcgoaty]

LOOOL Harden is a bum dude. You seriously wanting out because of someones political leanings? Politics have officially ruined sports if this is true lol...Whats next?

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

I'd be more glad if NBA owner's had a choice who they supported politically and weren't intimidated into having to believe one thing or another. It's dumb. Ballmer donated more than all 29 other owners COMBINED by A LOT to the Democratic party and BLM it was recently reported. I don't think that's necessarily a good or bad thing. It's his right completely. I just don't like people being targeted for political views. If players are going to start demanding trades because an NBA owner supports a candidate, the slippery slope is going to spiral.

It's not a slippery slope to not want to play for an owner who supports an openly racist politician actively attempting to subvert American Democracy.

I don't see anyone complaining if their owner donates to Mitt Romney.

It sounds like an excuse for me. It's never stopped NBA players from taking millions prior. Sounds more like Harden needs a scapegoat for quitting on a franchise and not having the balls to take responsibility.

Maybe so, but there are worse scapegoats in the world than taking a stand against racism and authoritarianism

[gmoney411]

This is coming from Ric Bucher who knows almost nothing, but IF true.. Harden is a bigger **** than I even imagined. This recent trend of just cutting people off in life because of who they support politically is pathetic. What ever happened to just respecting that people may have different cultures, beliefs and political views than you? Not like Fertitta is running into the locker room chanting "Build the wall!" or anything FFS.

And what if Tilman is doing something like that? What if he is making dog whistle racist statements like Trump does? This isn't normal politics. The President has made it a point to possibly single out black athletes depending on your view. If Tilman is taking the same approach to black athletes that Trump has it is 100% fair for Harden to not want to be a part of that.

Yet this hasn't come up until now? He's been supporting Trump 4 years. As for athletes, every athlete Trump has gone after has started it. Curry+LeBron have been targeting Trump since the day he took office for example. Same with people like Kerr, Pop, Doc. Trump is hyper reactive and has the maturity of a 5 year old. If you bash him, he's obviously going to retaliate. It has nothing to do with him singling out black athletes lol.

Trump has used some questionable language when it comes to black athletes and minorities in general. But the main thing is that Trump transcends politics. Being against Trump doesn't mean you are against Republicans or Conservatives. Trump has crossed lines that is unacceptable for some people. And if you want out because you don't want to work for someone that supports that it is fine.

[WestbrookGOATed]

This is why I'm glad that Jeanie Buss is a lifelong Democrat who donated the max to Biden and Hillary

I do think it low-key played a role in LeBron wanting to come here. At the very least he definitely wasn't coming here to play for her Trump supporting brother

I'd be more glad if NBA owner's had a choice who they supported politically and weren't intimidated into having to believe one thing or another. It's dumb. Ballmer donated more than all 29 other owners COMBINED by A LOT to the Democratic party and BLM it was recently reported. I don't think that's necessarily a good or bad thing. It's his right completely. I just don't like people being targeted for political views. If players are going to start demanding trades because an NBA owner supports a candidate, the slippery slope is going to spiral.

It's not a slippery slope to not want to play for an owner who supports an openly racist politician actively attempting to subvert American Democracy.

I don't see anyone complaining if their owner donates to Mitt Romney.

Show me some proof of Donald Trump being a racist please. I'm so sick of hearing what a racist he is, when I've never heard or seen him say anything racist or degrading towards people of color. Joe Biden on the other hand I can give you a long list of extremely racist things he's said. Why is he better than Trump?

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

LOOOL Harden is a bum dude. You seriously wanting out because of someones political leanings? Politics have officially ruined sports if this is true lol...Whats next?

You opposed Donald Sterling being removed from the league?

[13th Man]

This is so dumb and unprofessional. Imagine what would happen if an owner disavowed any player due to their political beliefs. Keep this **** out of the sport.

[Tracymcgoaty]

LOOOL Harden is a bum dude. You seriously wanting out because of someones political leanings? Politics have officially ruined sports if this is true lol...Whats next?

You opposed Donald Sterling being removed from the league?

Are we comparing a racist with Tillman Fertitta?

[13th Man]

LOOOL Harden is a bum dude. You seriously wanting out because of someones political leanings? Politics have officially ruined sports if this is true lol...Whats next?

You opposed Donald Sterling being removed from the league?

So being a racist is political?

[azcatz11]

He’s using it as a scapegoat like ClipsFan said bc he doesn’t have the balls to leave on his own. These guys care about their money - all of them are fake when it comes to politics lol

[gmoney411]

This is so dumb and unprofessional. Imagine what would happen if an owner disavowed any player due to their political beliefs. Keep this **** out of the sport.

The President is in sports though. He tried to crush the NFL. He regularly comments on sports. He has used his platform to negatively affect privately owned sports organizations. This isn't just political beliefs and to brush it off as that is disingenuous.

[Kilo]

Worst take ever. I'm pretty sure he's gonna be disappointed when he learns most sports team owners are Republicans.

Republican vs Trumpublican.

[Swish1906]

Stopped reading after "Ric"

[celtics543]

This is an interesting argument in this thread because it's very specific. I'm fine with Harden not wanting to play for the Rockets because he disagrees politically with Fertitta.

What I find weird though is that he has no issues wearing Adidas shoes made with sweat shop labor in China. He has no trouble taking money that comes in from the Chinese market despite their poor treatment of their own citizens. No issue wearing a Nike jersey that was potentially made by child laborers.

He's free to use whatever reason he wants to ask for a trade or his release or whatever but it's a bit hypocritical of him. James Harden, and most other NBA players, are building their brand and their mansions on the backs of poorly treated child laborers overseas. They aren't alone, lots of other businessmen and women do the same.

I applaud Harden for standing up for what he believes in but it is convenient that for most players when Daryl Morey spoke out about Hong Kong no one supported him because they don't want to lose the money. But because it's financially safe to speak out against Donald Trump, there are no issues. I agree with his dislike of the President but it would seem a whole lot more authentic if these guys spoke out against something that might hurt their wallet.

[babyjax13]

This is why I'm glad that Jeanie Buss is a lifelong Democrat who donated the max to Biden and Hillary

I do think it low-key played a role in LeBron wanting to come here. At the very least he definitely wasn't coming here to play for her Trump supporting brother

Jeanie's brother supported Trump and he's a partial owner.

Anyway it seems a bit unfair to punish all Rocket fans because you don't like the owner. Fertitta sounds like a cheap ass but he hasn't done anything disgustingly out of bounds like Donald Sterling did for years.

That we know of. When your head coach, GM, and over half of the players you have under contract are desperately trying to get out, there's got to be some major disfunction there. We've never seen an exodus like this - never.

[TheFinishSniper]

This is why I prefer no politics in sport. Rockets fans will learn it hard way. But on their pain we will learn and grow. This is exactly what happens when you go sending through NBA your political messages like BLM, Trump, China all over it.

Silver you allowed this to happen. Wouldnt be suprised if Fertita starts demanding his resignation or try convince couple of owners in doing so.

[OkcSinceSGA]

It seems like not too long ago it was actually possible to disagree with others over things like Politics, and still remain civil or even friendly. Now it just seems like there is so much hate (on both sides) that you can't even say what side you support without making enemies for life.

It gets easier to talk about things like politics when both sides can agree that extremes are bad. When you have someone of great power not condemning racism or white supremacy it opens a can of worms of what is or isn't tolerated in a society. A society needs to tread carefully on what they deem as extreme because currently in the United States you have abolishing student debt and taxing the rich as an "extreme left ideal" (Which isn't extreme compared to many First world countries but it is in the United States) and on the other side you have talks of starting a civil war over presidential election (Which, if we looked at a democracy of any other First world country and the country not accepting the results we would fairly state that country has major underlying issues if the losing party doesn't fairly accept the results).

This is the same country with leadership which managed to turn a world wide pandemic into a political charade. The country has systematic issues which have yet to be resolved since slavery and those close minded, hateful thoughts and feelings have been let out of the cage in the past 4 years. The people in this country have a choice if they wish to educate themselves and others on issues at the root of the systems or stand pat and stay the course our country was steered in over the past 4 years.

Not true. In the same speech that he's hit for this, he said he condemns all racism and white supremacy FIRST before the both sides have bad people comment. I don't know why people continue saying this.

"We condemn this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has no place in America. As I have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin... we all live under the same laws, and salute the same great flag. *Skip to next part*... "Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in it's name are criminal and thugs. Including the KKK, Neo-Nazi's, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as American's.

Watch on YouTube

Also he's condemned the KKK at least 10 times. Not to say I'm not relieved to move on from the last 4 years in many ways, but believe me.. the players have ZERO issue taking dirty money. They don't give a **** about this kind of stuff for the most part. So to work this into a believable excuse is silly. Harden didn't raise this issue in the 4 years prior playing for the man. Trump was already in office when Harden signed his 4 year deal in 2017.

[MarcusBrody]

I can guarantee if it was the other way round and he was leaving due to the owner liking Biden, you'd all be crying.

Absolutely guarantee it

Have you read this thread? Basically everyone in it is crying.

[nedleeds]

Worst take ever. I'm pretty sure he's gonna be disappointed when he learns most sports team owners are Republicans.

They are, and for at least financial reasons. They all are in the brackets Biden will target with tax hikes (I don't have a strong opinion on that policy, but it's just a fact).

70 million people, and basically 1/2 the country with a rounding error voted for Trump. Some huge amount did so because they looked across and strongly disliked the other party. This election was a classic douche and turd sandwich choice. Those 70 million people (Trump doubled his support among Black Americans not just in raw numbers since all voting was up, but by percentage) are 1/2 your fans and 1/2 the people who pay the bills either directly or indirectly.

[Pelon chingon]

More than 70M people voted for trump just sayin.

What a wild country.

Incredibly divided right now but I recommend everyone doing a deep dive into the civil war before they act to bold.

[ratul]

Respect Harden for his view. These owners make a huge dime out of players and the old president was a divisive guy.