James Harden on dating Khloe Kardashian: 'I didn't like all the attention'

March 1 (UPI) -- James Harden says he didn't like the attention that came with dating Khloe Kardashian.

The 27-year-old Houston Rockets player broke his silence on his split from the 32-year-old reality star in the March 6 issue of Sports Illustrated.

"I didn't like all the attention," Harden told the magazine. "I felt like it was for no reason. I wasn't getting anything out of it except my name out there and my face out there, and I don't need that."

"It wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't me," he said. "I don't need pictures of myself when I'm driving my car. Who cares? What shoes am I wearing? Who cares? Where am I eating? Who cares? It was unnecessary stuff that I think trickled down to my teammates. I had to eliminate that."

Harden and Kardashian called it quits in February 2016 after eight months of dating. The reality star later claimed on her since-canceled FYI talk show, Kocktails with Khloe, that Harden had cheated.

"I just don't want to put up with people that you want to be monogamous but then you're not monogamous," she said on the March 2 episode. "I always said, 'It's long distance. We don't need to be monogamous.'"

"Why wouldn't you say, 'Okay, that's great!' instead of forcing a relationship [and saying], 'Let's be committed, let's be committed,'" the star added. "He wanted that. I wanted it, but I wanted to be realistic."

Kardashian has since started dating Cleveland Cavaliers player Tristan Thompson. The star shared posts from their vacation to Jamaica in February after telling The Talk she is "really happy and secure" in the relationship.