As a potential James Harden trade continues to develop, the former MVP reportedly expanded his list of preferred landing sites by two.
Harden added the Boston Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers to his list of favorite destinations, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. They join a group that includes 76ers, Nets and Bucks as teams that claim to be on Harden’s list. That group also included the Heat, but Miami would have ended its search for a Harden exchange. Milwaukee is also no longer interested.
Harden has two years left on his contract, plus a $ 47.3 million player option for the 2022-23 season.
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The Houston season opener was postponed due to an outbreak of COVID-19 within the team. Three players tested positive, with four others quarantined due to contact tracking. Harden was unavailable for violating health and safety protocols and was subsequently fined $ 50,000.
The league is reviewing Harden’s video at a club, which would be a violation of the NBA’s COVID-19 policy that prohibits players from attending internal social gatherings of 15 or more people or from entering bars, lounges, clubs or establishments similar.
With his uncertain status dragging into the season, Harden was described as having an “unusual” level of frustration, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Harden reportedly engaged in verbal strife with teammates, although it is not clear what the disputes were about.
With so much uncertainty about the Rockets’ ability to find a business partner willing to give the proper value for a superstar player, Amick reports that there is an “ever-growing belief” within the organization that Harden may end up staying in Houston for the rest of the year. season or beyond. The Rockets are also not obliged to limit their discussions to only the teams on Harden’s list, creating an additional layer of intrigue for what is already the NBA’s juiciest off-court plot.