Stephen Silas was in no mood to talk about James Harden Monday. Clearly, the All-Star’s holdout struck a nerve with the rookie head coach, who appeared noticeably frustrated when pressed about Harden’s absence. “There is no timetable,” Silas told reporters at Rockets training camp. “It is a setback. You want your best player to be here.”
Ask and you shall receive. Harden, at long last, has resurfaced, reporting to the Rockets facility Tuesday for mandatory testing, according to ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski. That doesn’t mean things are back to being hunky dory in Houston—requesting a trade is one genie you can’t put back in the bottle. But Harden’s mere presence, albeit several days later than promised, is progress.
Harden, a former MVP and three-time scoring champ, has made no bones about it—he wants out. The 31-year-old has expressed this sentiment by rejecting a contract extension that would have made him the league’s highest-paid player while ghosting the Rockets up until his belated arrival Tuesday afternoon.
Harden’s initial preference was a trade to Brooklyn, which would reunite him with Kevin Durant and former Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni (Kyrie Irving, for what it’s worth, has bristled at the notion of sharing a backcourt with the ball-dominant Harden). However, Harden now seems equally intrigued by the prospect of playing in Philadelphia, a team he also has ties to (President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey previously served as his general manager in Houston).
Of course, executing a trade of this blockbuster magnitude is much easier said than done and would likely require the Sixers to part with one of their own megastars Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons. Morey sees that as a deal-breaker, though maybe the allure of Harden, who has poured in over 35 points per game the past two seasons, will trump his preference to build around homegrown talent.
Regardless, for any of these possibilities to work, Harden knew he would have to show up sooner or later. Now that he’s back on the grid, will Harden toe the company line or continue to push buttons, needling the team until the front office reaches its breaking point? If Harden decides to soldier on, embracing his current circumstances in Houston (a city that elevated him from sixth-man status to a shoo-in Hall of Famer), the Rockets have a chance to be quite competitive in the Western Conference. John Wall should adequately fill the void left by Russell Westbrook while fellow newcomer DeMarcus Cousins provides a strong low-post presence.
Now that he’s reported for duty, will the disgruntled Harden change his tune or dig in his heels further? We’re about to find out.
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