The James Harden era in Los Angeles is already flirting with the exit door.
According to Tim Bontemps, the Clippers could look to move Harden “sooner rather than later,” and the timing lines up with how ugly their season has become. The Clippers sit at 6-18, 14th in the Western Conference, looking nothing like a team that features a guard playing at an All-Star level.
Harden is putting up monster numbers again: 26.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game this season after averaging 22.8 points and 8.7 assists across 79 games in 2024-25, but his production isn’t translating into wins.
On top of the losing, the Clippers already detonated one veterans’ experiment by cutting Chris Paul in the middle of their road trip, announcing in the middle of the night that they were parting ways with the 40-year-old after just a few weeks. That move, plus the constant noise around Kawhi Leonard’s health and the team’s defensive collapse, makes it feel like this front office is very close to a reset. And at 36 years old, on big money, still playing like a top-tier offensive engine, James Harden is the obvious pivot point.
Lurking in the background are the Houston Rockets, who suddenly look like the most dangerous landing spot imaginable. Fred VanVleet is out with a torn ACL, leaving the Rockets without a true veteran point guard even as Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard explode as young guards. Pairing Harden with Kevin Durant again in Houston would instantly give the Rockets a terrifying late-game duo to throw at what looks like an almost unbeatable Oklahoma City Thunder team at the top of the West.
In a league that never stops chasing star power, you can absolutely see why the Rockets would be waiting by the phone the second the Clippers decide they’re ready to listen.
The Proposed Trade Idea
Houston Rockets Receive: James Harden
Los Angeles Clippers Receive: Fred VanVleet, Dorian Finney-Smith, Aaron Holiday, 2027 first-round pick (PHX), 2028 first-round pick (HOU), 2029 first-round pick (DAL/PHX), 2031 second-round pick (HOU)
James Harden’s $39 million salary is exactly what makes this kind of move so tricky for the Rockets. If the Rockets want to bring him back without touching their prized young core of Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, and Alperen Sengun, then they have to pay a heavy tax in draft capital. The Clippers would be eating long-term money on Fred VanVleet and Dorian Finney-Smith while giving up the only true star in the deal, so extra picks are the only real way to make it worth their while. That’s why the final version of this framework leans so hard on future firsts instead of sacrificing one of Houston’s blue-chip prospects.
From the Rockets’ side, this is a pure “we’re going for the title now” move. They flip VanVleet plus a useful 3-and-D forward in Finney-Smith and a rotation guard in Holiday, then layer three first-rounders and a second on top to get Harden. In exchange, they reunite him with Kevin Durant and drop a proven offensive engine into a roster that already defends at a high level and has young legs everywhere. Harden instantly becomes the organizer, letting Durant, Thompson, Sengun, and the rest attack more favorable matchups while the Rockets lean fully into a win-now window.
For the Clippers, this is about control and flexibility. If they’ve decided the Harden experiment is dead, turning one aging star on a massive deal into a starting-caliber point guard (once healthy), a defensive forward who fits anywhere, another rotation guard and three first-round assets is a clean pivot.
VanVleet can run the team in a more traditional way once he’s back, Finney-Smith gives them a switchable wing they badly need, and the draft haul restocks a cupboard that’s been emptied by past all-in swings. It’s not glamorous, but it’s the kind of “reset without bottoming out” package that a front office in their position would have to seriously think about.
How Would The Rockets Perform On The Court?
With James Harden in the building, the Rockets’ on-court identity becomes brutally clear: they’d play through three offensive hubs that are all elite decision-makers. Kevin Durant is already carrying a superstar load, putting up 25.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.9 assists a night on absurd efficiency with 50.5 percent from the field. Alperen Sengun has blossomed into a point-center, posting 23.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 7.1 assists, orchestrating dribble handoffs and elbow actions like a big guard. Drop Harden on top of that, and you suddenly have three guys who can run a pick-and-roll, punish switches, and create something solid late in the clock.
Offensively, the fit is almost unfair. Harden–Sengun pick-and-rolls would spam the middle of the floor, forcing defenses to choose between tagging Sengun on the short roll or staying hugged to Durant on the weak side. If teams switch, Harden can cook bigs one-on-one while Sengun posts smaller guards. When Amen Thompson shares the floor, you add downhill rim pressure; when Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. are out there, you surround the core with plus shooting. Thompson would probably become the de facto “connector”, cutting, screening, and attacking broken defenses, while Sheppard slots in as the movement shooter who thrives off the gravity of Harden and KD.
The question is how much this would warp the Rockets’ defense. Right now, their identity leans on length, athleticism, and physicality, ranking 2nd in the league in points allowed; adding Harden means one more target for opponents to hunt in switches, and Durant in his mid-30s can’t be asked to absorb every tough wing assignment for 82 games. Sengun is improving but still not an elite rim protector, so the team would have to lean even harder on Thompson, Smith Jr., Tari Eason, and the rest of the young wings to cover ground, fight over screens, and clean up behind Harden.
Even with some defensive slippage, though, the offensive upside is ridiculous. In the regular season, this group would profile like a top-three offense by sheer shot creation alone, and in the playoffs, they’d always be able to manufacture a good look late, exactly the kind of nightmare that could genuinely threaten an OKC team that currently looks untouchable.
Could It Be Sustainable In The Future?
Long term, this version of the Rockets becomes one of the most financially top-heavy teams in the league. James Harden is now 36 and under contract for this season at $39.1 million, with one more year guaranteed at $42.3 million in 2026-27 as a Player Option. That alone places Houston on a steep financial slope: you’re committing over $80 million to a guard well into his late-30s, and his deal expires exactly when the rest of the roster begins to get far more expensive.
Kevin Durant only amplifies the pressure. After entering 2025-26 on the final year of his previous contract, Durant agreed to a two-year, $90 million extension with Houston. That extension kicks in at $43.9 million in 2026-27 and $46 million in 2027-28, meaning the Rockets will be paying almost $100 million per year just for Harden and Durant during the next two seasons. And both will be 37 to 39 years old across that window.
Then comes the avalanche of young-core extensions.
Alperen Sengun’s 5-year, $185 million deal started at $33.9 million and is ascending yearly. Jabari Smith Jr.’s extension starts the next year, 2026-27, at roughly $23.6 million. Amen Thompson becomes extension-eligible in 2026, likely commanding $30 million annually if he continues on a star trajectory. Reed Sheppard follows in 2027, and with his shooting profile and rapid development, he may fetch a Maxey-tier figure as well.
Add it all up, and the Rockets project to sit above the first apron and flirt with the second apron immediately, and under the new CBA, that comes with severe restrictions: no aggregating salaries in trades, no mid-level exception, frozen draft picks if they remain above the second apron for multiple years, and virtually no flexibility to reshape the roster.
The only path to sustaining this core deep into the decade would require James Harden accepting a massive pay cut on his next contract, something closer to $18 million annually, while Durant takes shorter extensions and the Rockets perfectly time their rookie extensions to avoid simultaneous spikes. Without that, Houston realistically has a two-year championship window, after which financial gravity forces a breakup, no matter how well the on-court product performs.
