Houston Rockets: Clippers asked about James Harden’s availability

The Houston Rockets have had an active offseason full of plenty of rumors. They have officially traded away their second-best player for someone better, but apparently, someone else’s availability was questioned as well.

The Houston Rockets have made quite a bit of noise this offseason. They knew they needed to make some big improvements after yet another series loss to the Golden State Warriors in the postseason, and they went right to work.

First, they pursued Jimmy Butler quite publically and felt like they had a great chance to lure him to Houston. He ended up signing with the Miami Heat, though, leaving the Rockets empty-handed originally.

The Rockets also were able to re-sign some of their key players from last year, bringing back Austin Rivers, Danuel House and Gerald Green for relatively cheap.

Of course, the big Rockets news came later with the acquisition of Russell Westbrook in return for Chris Paul, but before that, the Kawhi Leonard decision stopped the NBA in its tracks.

Harden’s availability checked?

The Los Angeles Clippers were deep in discussions as they tried to find another star to potentially pair with Kawhi to get him to the team. According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, they called the Rockets and asked James Harden.

Obviously, the Rockets quickly shut that down. I wouldn’t be surprised if Daryl Morey even hung up the phone immediately as they suggested such nonsense. Why would the Clippers even think that he was potentially available?

It was probably because of the media-enhanced tension between James Harden and Chris Paul. It made everyone seem unhappy in the organization, and I don’t blame LA for checking on the top-5 player. Thankfully, the Beard shut all of that down and said that he wasn’t traded because of it.

Harden said he is “good” with Chris Paul.
“Obviously as teammates, as competitors, we argued on the court. … The negative media stuff, it wasn’t true. … Me and Chris had constant communication.” #Rockets #Thunder #NBA pic.twitter.com/UvkyRpKFbt

— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) July 20, 2019

Obviously, there was a little tension between the teammates, but what team doesn’t argue some? It was frustrating to watch the media try to seemingly tear the team apart. Hopefully, that will all be behind us, now. I’m rooting for CP3 to have a great year in OKC.

No need to worry

James Harden is going to be in Houston for a very long time. If the signing of the super-max didn’t prove that to you, then him becoming a part-owner in the Houston Dynamo might help:

. @HoustonDynamo pic.twitter.com/mKZ15cR4du

— James Harden (@JHarden13) July 18, 2019

Harden loves this city and I fully expect him to be here the rest of his career. He’s a Houston Rocket for life.