James Harden’s Houston Restaurant Shut for Falling $2 Million Behind in Rent

James Harden’s Houston restaurant has been seized and closed by the landlord for unpaid rents and expenses of more than $2.2 million.

A note appeared Monday on the doors of the restaurant, Thirteen, saying the locks had been changed and a new key would be given to the restaurant upon paying its debts. According to that note, “delinquent rents and other amounts due under the lease” are $2,217,430.05. CultureMap first reported the news.

The landlord, Midtown Scouts Square Property, also filed a lawsuit against Harden and his companies 13 Strikes, LLC and Thirteens Hospitality Group on Wednesday in Harris County Court. The landlord is seeking at least $1 million in damages.

According to the complaint, the restaurant’s initial five-year lease signed in 2020 was extended in July until October 10. The suit says the landlord has not been paid monthly base rent or additional rent based on sales. After it attempted recouping the funds last month, the landlord terminated the lease, the suit says. The filing claims Harden failed his duties as a guarantor to make sure the landlord was paid.

Harden played for the Rockets from 2012 to 2021. He has been with the Clippers since 2023, but maintained a home in Houston. In July, he signed a two-year, $81.5 million deal with the Clippers after opting out of the two-year, $70 million deal he made with the team the year before.

His agent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The restaurant faced another lawsuit at the end of last year from the families of former University of Houston football teammates, one of whom spent 9 seasons in the NFL, who were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver leaving Thirteen in 2023. The driver had a blood alcohol level of 0.139, far above the legal limit of 0.08. 

He’s also been in a long-running battle with a Los Angeles landlord who claimed Harden hosted too many people on his property in 2019. A jury ordered Harden to pay close to $1 million to the landlord earlier this year.

In June, Harden was named as a defendant in a case alleging rape by his nephew at a New Year’s Eve party at the NBA player’s Houston-area mansion. Harden is not accused of assault, but the case accuses him of negligence and being “vicariously liable for the actions of his guards,” who the suit says lied to the party attendees and jeopardized their safety.