James Harden celebrates birthday on yacht, throws cake into ocean
James Harden rang in his birthday in style.
The Sixers star turned 33 on Friday, and he celebrated the occasion by throwing a shindig in which guests joined him on a yacht.
At one point, Harden was presented with his birthday cake, which almost resembled a wedding cake. Then he proceeded to throw it overboard.
Behind a tequila bar, there was a massive ice sculpture bearing his bearded likeness.
The beard was also present on the large deck of the ship.
Harden was traded from the Nets to the Sixers earlier this year, as the guard grew disenchanted in his first season in Brooklyn in which he’d reunited with Kevin Durant and was supposed to be paired in the backcourt with Kyrie Irving.
However, the Nets had a choppy season as Irving’s unvaccinated status kept him sidelined for most of the year. Harden was swapped primarily for Ben Simmons, who never wound up suiting up for the Nets, first citing mental health concerns and later back issues.
The Nets were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics.
Paired with Joel Embiid, Harden and the Sixers won their first-round playoff series against the Raptors, but fell in the second round to the Miami Heat.
This offseason, Harden took a paycut with the Sixers, signing a two-year deal worth a total of $69 million — he declined a $47 million player option to give the franchise more flexibility, and picked up another player option at the end of the 2022-23 season.
