PLAYA VISTA – The Los Angeles Clippers officially introduced former Sixers guard James Harden on Thursday afternoon. Their practice facility's media room was more crowded than its possibly ever been, with everyone seeking answers on what went wrong with the Philadelphia 76ers as well as how things will work with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook.

“Me leaving Brooklyn and thinking I'm going to retire as a Sixer, and the front office had other plans,” James Harden told reporters during his introductory press conference. “They didn't want me, and it is that simple. There's more detail, more to where I can't talk about, but there's a lot of narratives and I don't have social media, but there's a lot of narratives and people talking than just they have people think they have an opinion or voice and other people listen to it, know what I mean? But none of that is true.”

James Harden signed a very team-friendly deal last offseason in order for the Sixers to make room for incoming free agents PJ Tucker and Danuel House. The expectation was that James Harden would be offered a long-term max deal this offseason and he would sign it.

A few days before free agency and his opt-in deadline for the final year of his contract, Harden elected to opt into the 2023-24 option worth $35.6 million after sensing a new max contract offer was not on the way.

It's not often you see a trade demand become so public, but that's what happened when Harden requested a trade from the Sixers ahead of the free agency this past summer. Throughout the summer and into training camp, James Harden was insistent on being traded to one team and one team only: the LA Clippers.

And Harden says he's coming in with a team-first approach.

“Whatever T-Lue and the coaching staff needs me to do,” Harden added. “I've been prepared and been in both situations, whether me scoring 15, 16 points or scoring 30, as long as we win the game and everybody's feeling confident and good about themselves, that's all that really matters.”

Harden continued, explaining that he felt ‘leashed' during his time with the Sixers under head coach Doc Rivers.

“Then Philly is just changing my role, knowing I can give more, knowing I can do more, but if you want to be honest, being on a leash and me knowing in order for us to get where we want to get to, I was going to have to be playing my best offensively, whether it's facilitating and scoring the basketball and Joel [Embiid] as well. And I never really had that opportunity. So, I think all that plays into where I am today where.”

“When I'm in a leash, I'm not just shooting the basketball every time. I meant like I think the game and I'm a creator on the court, you know what I mean? So if I got a voice to where I can say, ‘hey, coach, I see this. What you think about this?’ Then it's like, okay, somebody that trusts me, that believes in me, that understands me, that I'm just not, I'm not a system player. I am a system. So somebody that can have that dialogue with me and understand and move forward and figure out and make adjustments on the fly throughout the course of games, that's all I really care about. It's not about me scoring a basketball, scoring 34 points. I've done that already. So that's what I meant by that.

James Harden participated in a stay-ready game with some of the Clippers reserves ahead of his media availability Thursday, which resulted in a nearly 55-minute delay from when he was initially expected to speak. Despite only being traded late Monday night, Harden has watched a bit of film on the Clippers and gotten on the court with the to study some of what they want to run and how they want to operate.

“I think that the system that we have is really good. I've been watching the games and for me it's just staying locked in, whether it's defensively or offensively, knowing what we're doing, knowing what our schemes are and making sure that I'm doing the best job that I can do and controlling what I control. And so that's just being the best version of myself watching the film. I mean consistently communicating with coaches and teammates and trying to figure out how can I be great on both ends of the ball. It's going to take some time. Hopefully not too much time, but I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing.”

When asked to elaborate on why he wanted out of the Sixers and what was the moment that sparked it, Harden said a number of factors were involved.

“[There were] a few different reasons, but that last situation in Philly, those fans were really, really great. Teammates were great. Leaving Brooklyn, which was a funky situation, and going to Philly, leaving a lot of money on the table from Brooklyn, going to [the Sixers] — once again last summer — taking $26 million less to be able to sign and make the team better and organization better.

“Changing my role, which media says is ball dominant, and my ball dominance is really effective. But changing my role, I mean trying to change the narrative, trying to sacrifice and do whatever it takes to win at the highest level, whatever people talk about and say — I just want to win at the highest level. So taking less money, sacrificing the — that's not talked about. It's talked about the other BS. And it just didn't work out.

“I'm not the type to go back and forth or be explaining to myself because you're always going to take something out of what I say and make it into a different story. So long story short, I'm happy I'm here. I'm excited to be able to show how good individually, how good this team can be and is going to be.”

James Harden now has to figure out how things are going to work with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook. The theme of the latter threes media availabilities were, ‘it's just one ball,' and, ‘it's going to be a process,' but Harden didn't go too in depth into how he believes things are going to work.

“I think obviously they're already a really good team. I think the coaching staff is really, really good as well. Then I'm back home. So I just think the comfort level of me being back home around family and then having some really, really, really good players on this team. And then, you know, basically all four dudes from California.

“This is a unique story. So with all that coming together, it just made sense.”

James Harden's first chance to suit up as a member of the LA Clippers will be Monday against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.