The Houston Rockets confirmed on Tuesday that the star guard James Harden is already in the city and that he also underwent the first test for covid-19, which will allow him to join the team’s training in the coming days.
Harden is back in Houston after missing the Rockets’ training camp start and was going through the NBA’s covid-19 testing protocols, according to information provided by Stephen Silas, the team’s coach, on Tuesday.
But he had no further information on Harden’s schedule for his continuity with the Rockets after having told managers that he does not want to continue and wants a transfer.
Option that the Rockets do not want to comment on and Silas has not even considered playing without Harden when the regular competition arrives.
“All I know is that Harden has already arrived in Houston and has been examined at the Toyota Center,” Silas said after completing another new day of practice. “That’s pretty much all I know right now.”
Silas ironic that a series of informative parts had been entered, but assured that the fact that Harden already underwent the test for covid-19 before arriving at training, as required by security protocols, was something positive.
“Nothing has changed in relation to myself and Harden, since we have not had any communication,” reiterated Silas. “It is not my business to speak here of your personal wishes and much less of transfers.”
The latest rumor is that Harden would see the option of being transferred to the Philadelphia Sixers, where his mentor and new strongman, Daryl Morey, who left the Rockets management arguing the desire to be with his family and the Semana signed as president of operations for his new team.
Morey’s action is now seen by the Rockets as the cause of all the destabilization within the team, the same one that supported him when he generated the serious crisis with China, and that cost the Houston franchise the loss of the buoyant market with the Asian country, where he was the leader among NBA teams.
The current owner of the Rockets, Tilman Fertitta, did not give in to the pressures that asked him to dismiss Morey, who published some tweets defending the Hong Kong democratic movement, faced with the Chinese government, and this cut off all commercial relations with the NBA, which lost up to $ 400 million in revenue.
The departure of Morey and veteran coach Mike D’Antoni made point guard Russell Westbrook immediately request the transfer, as did Harden, who also established that he also wanted to be with forward Kevin Durant and point guard Kyrie Irving, of the Los Angeles. Brooklyn Nets.
The Rockets have already closed Westbrook’s with the Washington Wizards in exchange for point guard John Wall, but they don’t want to go the same way with Harden, and they want him to stay with them, at least this season.
Neither are the Sixers, the last team that has entered the rumors of a possible transfer of Harden, are they willing to give what the Texan team asks, which would be one of its pillar players, such as the Australian point guard Benn Simmons or the Cameroonian center. Joel Embiid, plus first-round selection rights.
Houston has already let Harden know that he will not leave the team if they are not going to receive the value they consider to have in the league market and that allows them to be competitive from the first day he leaves them.
The Rockets already have a Harden trade package in place that includes a young franchise player and early rounds or talented players on rookie contracts.
But, regardless of how Harden’s immediate future with the Rockets may develop, within the Texan organization they admit that the situation between both parties is already beginning to be uncomfortable.
Especially after watching as the winner of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and three-time league champion scorer, he didn’t show up to training camp with the rest of his teammates while participating in private parties in Atlanta. and Las Vegas.
