James Harden is facing more conditioning concerns

The saxophones are once again getting louder for James Harden.

The Cleveland Cavaliers star guard Harden entered training camp out of shape, Joe Vardon of The Athletic reported this week. Vardon adds that Harden is still not in good shape and is using the first part of the season to play his way into shape.

Harden himself also seemed to acknowledge his currently poor conditioning after Wednesday’s win over the New York Knicks. The ex-NBA MVP even revealed that he did not play much pickup basketball over the summer.

“I knew it was going to take a little bit of time to get adjusted to the speed, the pace, all of the above,” Harden said, per Vardon. “I’m not young, so I can’t just be ready [immediately], so I already knew that coming into the season.

“So now it’s like, all right, cool, [now] I feel really good,” added Harden. “And the work is automatically getting put in. That’s why I have been able to last so long in this league.”

Harden, who is officially listed at 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, is now 37 years old and in his 18th career NBA season. While he did drop a season-high 32 points in the win over the Knicks, Harden is still averaging just 16.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game overall on an inefficient 39.0 percent shooting.

This is far from the first time too that the former NBA scoring champion Harden has shown up for a season out of shape. Though Harden himself feels like he is close to turning a corner, he has also caused some other apparent issues for the 6-6 Cavs so far this year.