Time for Rockets to trade Harden
James Harden has always made his defenders work, on and off the court.
The Houston Rockets star has pioneered new dribbling moves, mastered the step-back three-pointer, built his body into a tank, developed a deep arsenal of tricks and turned the art of simulating fouls into a science. One on one, the three-time scoring champ is arguably the toughest to cover in the league.
That rare package of skills has always only been half the story with Harden, whose ball dominance, playoff missteps, active social life and failed superstar partnerships have led observers to pin all sorts of negative labels on him: ball hog, choker, party animal and diva. Fans and media members who appreciated his creative, boundary-pushing style often felt compelled to point out that the benefits of the Harden experience always outweighed those costs. During his eight seasons in Houston, he has led one of the league’s winningest teams, earned eight all-star nods, won the 2018 MVP and reached the conference finals twice. In the NBA’s superstar-driven economy, that was easily worth $40 million a year and whatever headaches popped up along the way.
But Harden’s actions this week - his preseason holdout and flouting of the league’s coronavirus protocols - were utterly indefensible. While his grievances with the direction of the Rockets and his desire for a trade are understandable, he acted recklessly and caused harm to his teammates and coach with conduct that was detrimental to the league. Harden is correct on the merits - he needs a new home as soon as possible - but he was dead wrong in his manner.
When the Rockets were eliminated from the bubble playoffs in September, Harden’s expressed view was that they were “a piece away” from a championship. In the three months since, piece after piece has departed, leaving Harden as one of the few remaining players from Houston’s 2018 team, which fell one win short of reaching the Finals. General Manager Daryl Morey: gone. Coach Mike D’Antoni: gone. Chris Paul, Trevor Ariza, Clint Capela and Austin Rivers: all gone. Russell Westbrook, who wasn’t even on the team yet, has already come and gone too, landing with the Washington Wizards by trade last week.
Harden, 31, finally reported to Houston on Tuesday, but he has been around long enough to know that the Rockets are a fringe playoff team in their current state. John Wall’s comeback tour provides a reason to watch, and Christian Wood was a promising grab in free agency, but Houston’s backsliding is bound to accelerate this season. Its title window closed when it traded Paul in 2019, and Harden has surely come to realize that he was the last person left at the bar when the lights came on.
Much of the blame for this predicament falls on owner Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire restaurateur, who promised to bring a fighting culture to the Rockets and subsequently proved to be all bluster. A savvier owner never would have approved the Paul trade, ducked the luxury tax while chasing a title or played hardball with D’Antoni in contract negotiations. No other owner in the league would have been captured on film at the White House in May, pleading to President Donald Trump for Paycheck Protection Program money to bail out his restaurants while commenting on the size of the contracts owed to Harden and Westbrook.
“Russell and James both make $40 million a year, and they were still getting paid, so a lot of my employees really wanted that PPP money,” he said.
Those comments were a terrible look, but so was a maskless Harden partying in Atlanta and Houston this week rather than reporting to training camp. New Rockets Coach Stephen Silas was left to face the media, unsure where Harden was or when he might show up. Harden’s teammates took the court without him because, well, the upcoming season begins in two weeks and it seems like a good idea to prepare.
Harden has made clear his desire to reunite with Kevin Durant on the Brooklyn Nets or with Morey on the Philadelphia 76ers, but he has left the Rockets with only bad options. Trading him now, even with two years left on his contract, would require selling low given the awkward timing and public displays of frustration. But the Rockets only have themselves to blame if they are unimpressed with their trade offers to date, as great owners foster productive relationships with their stars and keep disputes behind closed doors.
Playing out this season with Harden would amount to wasting a year. Harden and Wall are a poor basketball fit, as both need the ball and refuse to move when they don’t have it. Forcing Silas to spend his first season as a head coach constantly walking on eggshells is about as unfair and imprudent as it gets. Expecting first-time General Manager Rafael Stone to manage Harden’s personality and reconstruct a contending team around him is asking too much. Yet Fertitta, either spinning or in denial during a CNBC interview on Wednesday, spoke optimistically about Houston’s offseason moves and Harden’s future with the organization. It’s time for Fertitta to admit that Houston is better off with a fresh start rather than chasing the past and spinning its wheels around a disgruntled Harden.