James Harden has been at the center of the rumor mill this offseason. The 31-year-old guard has officially requested a trade from the Rockets and has already missed Houston’s early pre-season practices.
Harden didn’t help quell the rumors with his most recent post on Instagram, which featured a picture of him in Adidas gear. Curiously, no caption was included.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIjg4m2jU8f
Fans, unsure of its meaning, stormed the comments with all kinds of words.
The Rockets have seemingly gone out of their way to convince their star to stay. They traded Westbrook for Wall and signed two bigs in DeMarcus Cousins and Christian Wood. Harden has remained silent, doubling-down on his trade request and refusing to deny the rumors.
New head coach Stephen Silas has done his best to simmer the noise, but even he admitted he isn’t sure what’s going on with No. 13.
“I have no clarity about the message, honestly,” he said. “I take it basically at face value that he’s not here. What the reasoning is, is on him. He’s the one who can explain why or why not he’s not here. For me to make inferences and think about the possibilities isn’t real to me. What’s real is he’s not here, and he has a reason, but that’s on him to tell whoever what his reason is.”
Between Harden’s questionable activity and his recent post on Instagram (which featured no mention of the Rockets or his teammates), nobody really knows what the future holds in store, or if Harden will ever wear a Rockets jersey again.
For now, all we can do is speculate and watch everything play out as the situation continues to unfold…
