"I feel like I'm one of the best teammates that the NBA's seen" - James Harden endorses himself after solid debut with Joel Embiid and Philadelphia 76ers

James Harden finally made his much-anticipated debut for the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.

Two weeks after the Brooklyn Nets traded him, Harden recorded 27 points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds as the 76ers secured a 133-102 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Harden's latest superstar teammate and MVP contender, Joel Embiid, had 34 points and 10 rebounds in the road victory.

Harden, who went seven-of-12 from the field and knocked down five triples versus the Timberwolves, used his sensational debut to send a message to his critics.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding James Harden's exit from Brooklyn. His lack of chemistry with Kyrie Irving was a much-debated topic in the weeks before he was traded.

After the Minnesota win, Harden told the media that he was the best team player in the NBA. He said:

"I feel like I'm one of the best teammates that the NBA's seen - on the court and off the court... just because the current situation has happened - whatever happened, happened - that doesn't mean that I'm a bad teammate. For me, personally, I just feel like I needed to do what was best for my career and help myself and be happy."

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"He's been wanting to play with Joel for a long time" - Daryl Morey calls James Harden a genius after his sensational debut

The Philadelphia 76ers are James Harden's fourth NBA team. He played the first three seasons of his NBA career (2009-12) with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He then joined the Houston Rockets, where he spent his best years (2012 to early-2021), winning league MVP in 2018.

Harden was then involved with the Brooklyn Nets for about a season-and-a-half, playing 80 regular-season games and nine playoff games for the franchise.

The 32-year-old marked his Philadelphia debut by sporting a new jersey number. He replaced the number 13 that he had worn for the previous three franchises with the number one.

Harden took to Instagram to post pictures of himself sporting the new jersey number during the game against Minnesota. He captioned the post:

"NOT THE 2! #UNO"

For Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, it was the best debut he could have hoped for from James Harden. Morey was also the Houston Rockets' general manager when Harden became MVP.

Morey told ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne in this piece:

"James is a basketball genius. And he's been wanting to play with Joel for a long time. I think he's always thought Joel was, like, the perfect guy to pair with him."