The Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets have had some fierce matches in the recent past. They have suddenly turned into rivals even before the blockbuster trade of James Harden coming to Philadelphia and Ben Simmons along with a bunch of others going to Brooklyn.

But since the trade Harden has made himself the face of the rivalry in the buildup to the game. But as the result did not go their way, Fox Sports analyst Ric Bucher feels that Harden is the villain and the double agent for the Sixers.

The Sixers did beat the Brooklyn Nets earlier in the season and things did get a lot heated up between Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant as they trash talked each other leaving the court. It was clear that Durant had a point to prove in this game as the two had some issues that needed resolving.

Honestly, now that Harden is gone, the Brooklyn Nets looked much more balanced with Seth Curry delivering some consistent performances. Eventually, Ben Simmons will also be in action for them providing them with that stability in defence aswell.

Bucher appeared on “The Herd” to analyse about the game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets. There he called Harden a Villain and also a double agent for ghosting on the big night against his former team.

“James Harden is now the villain, James Harden is now the guy who needs to prove that all of the things, he’s a guy who’s operating behind the scenes, we thought he was a good guy, but it turns out he’s a double agent, he’s actually the bad guy… In sports, we need to have that guy that everybody is rooting against. I’m just amazed by how quickly we’ve got this rivalry here.”

Harden has been a key component for the Sixers as some people think that his move to Philadelphia will yield a lot of results and will also bring out the best in their talisman Joel Embiid. While Harden is receiving so much flak after a below par performance Ben Simmons was booed by the Philadelphia crowd as Durant silenced them with some exceptional scoring. He dropped in a 25 point performance along with 14 assists and seven boards to help Brooklyn Nets register a 129-100 win over the Sixers.

Harden on the other hand had an off day as he scored only 11 points along with 5 assists and six boards. Therefore Bucher’s claims are somewhat logical as he ghosted on the big day after so much buildup.