Posted on December 10, 2020 at 4:43 p.m.
Aurélie SACCHELLI
While he initially wanted to join Brooklyn, James Harden is now ready to play in Philadelphia, Milwaukee or Miami. It remains to set up an exchange with Houston …
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After skipping the Houston Rockets’ collective training resumption last Sunday, James Harden returned to the Toyota Center on Tuesday, having spent several days in Atlanta and Las Vegas partying. But the “bearded” cannot yet train with his teammates. Indeed, he must present a total of six negative tests for the coronavirus before being able to resume collective training, as stipulated in the health protocol of the NBA. He could therefore only be declared fit from next Monday, if all goes well. In the meantime, the 31-year-old full-back (or point guard) seems, in his mind, a long way from Houston., since he still wants to join a team capable of playing the title, and it is not the arrival of John Wall (in exchange for Russell Westbrook, who has gone to Washington), which convinced him, obviously. According to The Athletic, seeing that things are getting complicated with Brooklyn (Houston would like to recover Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving as part of an exchange!), the destination he preferred, James Harden would now be ready to join Philadelphia, Milwaukee or Miami, three teams from the East who can legitimately aim for the NBA Finals.
A very complicated exchange to set up
But James Harden is still under contract until 2023 (the last season being an option player) with the Rockets, for a total salary of 132 million dollars. Setting up an exchange with another team is therefore very complicated. Franchises where Harden wants to play don’t want to part ways with a player of equivalent skill, and Houston doesn’t want to pick up second-class players. Twelve days before the start of the season, and on the eve of the start of the pre-season, it is very difficult to know where the man with 34.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 7.5 assists will evolve average during the last regular season and 29.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.7 assists in the play-offs, during the 2020-21 season.
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