Harden to Nets brings Oladipo to Rockets
HOUSTON — The James Harden era is over in Houston, and as with so many of his seasons with the Rockets, great success ended with bitter disappointment that ultimately felt inevitable.
After eight-plus seasons as the unquestioned face of the franchise and one of the premier scorers of his generation, Harden got his wish Wednesday and was traded to the Brooklyn Nets to join former teammate Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
The Rockets acquired two-time All-star guard Victor Oladipo from the Indiana Pacers in the four-team deal, along with a haul of four firstround picks and the right to swap draft positions in four other drafts with the Nets. The Rockets also will add Cavaliers guard Dante Exum and Nets forward Rodions Kurucs. Center Jarrett Allen and forward Taurean Prince will go from Brooklyn to Cleveland.
Harden’s post-game comments about the Rockets on Tuesday in no way led to the completion of the move, a person with knowledge of the process said. Rather, he might have made them because he knew that day the deal was close to an agreement.
The keys to the deal for the Rockets were Oladipo, who is in the final season of his contract, and the picks. But it also ended the increasingly strained relationship with Harden after his offseason trade demand, late arrival to training camp, and stumbling start to the season.
Harden, an eight-time All-star and former MVP with the Rockets, has struggled this season while
wanting to be traded and on Tuesday seemed to say his farewells while declaring the Rockets were “just not good enough.”
In the five games since he sat out with a sprained ankle, Harden has made 37.8 percent of his shots and 25.6 percent of his 3-pointers while averaging just 17.4 points. This season’s average of 24.8 points per game was his lowest in nine seasons with the Rockets. His 34.7 percent 3point shooting is the worst of his 12-year career.
Harden became so determined to be traded that he turned down the Rockets’ offer of a two-year, $103 million contract extension before the season. The offer would have had Harden, 31, under contract for five more seasons and put him in line to become the highest-paid player in NBA history.
He then skipped the Rockets’ training camp, posting party pictures of himself in Atlanta and Las Vegas. He was sent to a four-day quarantine period after more social media coverage of him in a social setting, leading the NBA to postpone the Rockets’
season opener.
Still, Harden’s place in franchise history, though he never led the Rockets to the NBA Finals, is secure.
Harden departs as the Rockets’ franchise leader in assists, 3-pointers, 30-point games, 40-point games, 50point games and 60-point games. He is second in career scoring behind Hakeem Olajuwon.
Harden was named to the ALL-NBA first team six times, tying Olajuwon for the franchise record.
The 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player, Harden was third in the MVP voting last season, the fifth time in six seasons he ranked in the top three. He is the only player to be a firstteam ALL-NBA selection in each of the past four seasons.
His 36.1 points per game in the 2018-19 season were a franchise record and produced the widest margin in the NBA scoring race (8.09 points) since Wilt Chamberlain outscored Elgin Baylor by 10 points in 1962-63.
Harden’s 40-game stretch that season during which he averaged 40.1 points is the second-longest span in NBA history in which a player averaged 40. That season also saw him become the only player in NBA history to average
at least 35 points and seven assists and only the second (with Michael Jordan) to average at least 30 points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals.
Harden averaged 34.3 points, 7.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds last season, leading the league in scoring for a third consecutive time. The only player in league history to average at least 34 points, seven assists and six rebounds, he did it in each of the past two seasons. He was the third player in NBA history (along with Jordan and Allen Iverson) to lead the league in scoring and total steals.
Harden had his fourth 60point game last season, the third most in NBA history, coming within one point of his franchise record of 61 set against the Knicks in 2019 and doing it without playing in the fourth quarter of a game against the Hawks.
He averaged 29 points in the playoffs last year with the best shooting percentage of his postseason career and was the second-leading scorer of the second round, in which the Rockets were eliminated in five games by the eventual champion Lakers.
The Rockets reached the playoffs in each of Harden’s eight seasons, the longest active playoff streak in the NBA. After losing in the first round in Harden’s first two seasons with the team, the Rockets won at least one playoff series in five of the next six seasons, twice advancing to the conference finals but falling short, with Harden often going out with spectacular elimination game collapses.
When the Rockets were eliminated by the Lakers last season, the pillars of the franchise began departing one by one. Mike D’antoni stepped down as coach before the charter from the Orlando bubble landed. General manager Daryl Morey soon followed. Russell Westbrook and Harden demanded trades, with Westbrook moving to the Wizards on Dec. 2.
Most conspicuously, the longtime headliner and record-setter had gotten his wish to leave the team with which he has had his greatest success and the city he said he loves. The breakup — as with many of his seasons leading the Rockets — brought an agonizing and perhaps fitting end of once enormous hope his excellence had inspired.