Tracy McGrady Shades James Harden For Phony Injury: 'He Shut It Down'

Just a few days after a blockbuster deal sent Ben Simmons to the Nets and James Harden to the 76ers, the Beard was seen practicing step back jumpers with his new teammates. That footage sparked plenty of talk as to how serious Harden's hamstring injury really was, but no takes grabbed our attention like NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady.

"You don't rehab a hammy by doing stepbacks," T-Mac said on NBA on TNT.

Touché.

"We all know Philly was his first choice and when things hit the fan in Brooklyn, he shut it down. He wasn't hurt."

We've heard plenty of chatter from Twitter about Harden faking this injury, however the accusation holds some weight when a former perennial All-Star says it. T-Mac is James Harden's superior, so to hear a player he likely looked up to sound this confident that he was faking an injury to land with a team? That's got to sting.

But as far as Tracy McGrady's take goes, we'd say he's probably right. Harden has been open about his desire to end up alongside Joel Embiid in Philadelphia. Openly stating you want to be somewhere else before starting a separate venture is bound to fail, and that led us here.

We'll never know for sure, but we do know the trade suddenly cured Ben Simmons' depression and James Harden's hamstring within a week. Both players have been prima donnas before -- perhaps they're back for an encore?