The end of the James Harden era appears to be rapidly approaching for the Houston Rockets. First Mike D’Antoni wasn’t brought back then Daryl Morey resigned. Russell Westbrook asked to be traded and now Harden is in the same boat.
During an appearance on ESPN, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Harden turned down a two-year contract extension that would have earned him over $50 million per season— making him the highest-paid player in NBA history.
As mentioned by Wojnarowski on ESPN, Harden is under the belief that Houston’s window to contend for an NBA championship is over. He also believes his best pathway to a title is for the Rockets to trade him to the Brooklyn Nets— forming a super-team with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
“Harden believes his window to chase championships in Houston has ended, and constructing a super team with the Nets represents his best pathway to a title.”
The Rockets made an admirable effort to compete with the likes of the Golden State Warriors dynasty and the LeBron James-Anthony Davis duo of the Los Angeles Lakers. The final star pairing involving Westbrook simply wasn’t a cohesive fit and Houston has run out of viable options.
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Harden, 31, is faced with a scenario where he could go down being remembered as a player who cared about his stats more than winning. By turning down this historic extension to end up on a championship contender, that dispels the notion.
James Harden wants to take control of his NBA career before it’s too late after being wasted by the Houston Rockets. Making an aggressive push to be traded now is his best option to prevent that from happening.
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