The figure of the star escort James harden, whom the fans of the Houston Rockets had at the top of the pedestal, fell apart on Monday with the confirmation that he wants to be traded. HardenThe 31-year-old has turned down nothing less than the opportunity for a contract extension that would make him the first player in NBA history to win $ 51 million in one season.
Instead he wants to go to the Brooklyn Nets looking for a title league together, teaming up with the forward Kevin Durant and the base Kyrie Irving.
With the two has been found Harden over the past few weeks on the West Coast and from there he’s let the Rockets know that he doesn’t want to negotiate any contract extensions, which means his commitment to want to finish his career in Houston no longer fits into his future plans.
The Rockets, aware of his intentions for a possible trade, proposed that he sign the maximum allowed extension of two years and $ 103 million, in addition to the remaining three that he still has on his contract for $ 133 million.
The demand for Harden’s transfer to the Rockets comes days after the star point guard of the Houston team, Russell Westbrook, who was signed last season, through a transfer with the Oklahoma City Thunder, has also conveyed his wishes to the board. of looking for a way out.
Until now, the determination of Harden reaching Brooklyn hasn’t resulted in any progress toward that end, as the Texan team is now studying all the best options it may have on the table.
Representatives from Houston and Brooklyn are known to have been in contact, but so far they have not established a basis for dialogue to begin a serious negotiation process.
The Rockets, if they have to let out Harden and Westbrook, who might be interested in reaching the New York Knicks, want to get players who will not only be competitive immediately but also have the option to continue with the aspiration of fighting for a title.
Hence, as both players are under contract, the Rockets are in no hurry to force their exit and, on the contrary, their strategy will be to stay on the sidelines until the best option can come from the player market and for that they must be patients.
Because Harden has a multi-year contract, Houston has the ability to delay the process, develop offers, and use that time to try to change the opinion of Harden.
Additionally, Houston’s preference has remained in solving problems and that Harden stick with them long term, although now that’s not the star player’s first choice.
Harden believes his window to win titles in Houston is over, and building a super team with the Nets represents his best path to becoming NBA champion before he retires.
The Rockets’ star guard can become a free agent in 2022 if he opts out of the final year of his contract, and they say Brooklyn represents a two-year play to win a title before deciding on the next steps in his career.
The situation created by Harden is the same as that experienced with center Anthony Davis when he asked the New Orleans Pelicans to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in search of the title that he won this season, his first with that team after beating the Heat from Miami in the NBA Finals.
But until the Lakers were able to give him everything the Pelicans wanted, Davis had to continue with the New Orleans team and immediately went from being the most admired by fans to the most rejected and booed in every game he played at home until the transfer was closed.
Also, the Rockets were selling Harden on the idea of an extension that would help complete his Houston career, but so far he’s rejecting that idea.
But above all, the Houston team has long built its squad organization to accommodate Harden, both on and off the field.
A strategy spearheaded by the former general manager Daryl Morey, who has also left the team to be the new president of operations for the Philadelphia Sixers.
Morey, Harden’s number one fan, made possible the signings of the base Chris Paul and Westbrook to help him achieve the great goal of the league title that is now further than ever in the immediate future for the Rockets.
