James Harden reportedly wants out of the Houston Rockets after eight years with the team. The Beard has been the face and soul of the franchise ever since he left the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012. James has blossomed into one of the best players in the league and one of the greatest scorers in NBA history with the Rockets but his tenure with the team is seemingly coming to an end.
Harden requested a trade from the team a couple of weeks ago, according to reports, and he hasn’t been acting the best way ahead of the start of the league. James is sending a message to the team, fans and the front office. Now we have learned that this happened after the Rockets decided to go a different route than Harden initially wanted with the new head coach of the team; while he wanted the team to hire Tyronn Lue, they went with Stephen Silas.
That obviously didn’t sit well with the player and he decided to request a trade from Houston.
Via Joe Vardon of The Athletic:
“Harden wanted Tyronn Lue to be his coach in Houston. Sources say Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta did not — he wanted Jeff Van Gundy — and the compromise was Stephen Silas.”
“All-Star James Harden wanted out of Houston as soon as the Rockets hired Stephen Silas as coach, a person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports.
Early on in the Rockets’ coaching search, management asked for Harden’s input, and Silas, the son of former NBA player and coach Paul Silas, was not among Harden’s top choices, the person told USA TODAY.”
This situation is still developing, with Harden expressing his desire to join more contenders other than the Brooklyn Nets, given that the Rockets only want any of Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving for the Beard. The Philadelphia 76ers are part of that conversation, too, but nothing is certain right now.
