James Harden Wants to Sign with Rockets; Should Houston Want That, Too?

We're not skeptical of the idea of James Harden contemplating a summer free-agency return to the Rockets. There is another problem, though ...

Under normal circumstances, the Houston Rockets - like any other team - should be performing a pre-victory dance.

A superstar in the maddeningly transient NBA wants us? We're not Hollywood and we don't have a beach and we're not a superpower and an MVP candidate wants us anyway?

But this isn't "normal.'' Because James Harden isn't "normal.''

Starting with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that the 76ers star and former MVP James Harden is "seriously considering" a return to the Rockets in free agency after the 2022-23 season, there are now a flood of confirming suggestions. Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports - the guy who best-chronicled Harden's desired exit from Brooklyn to Philly a year ago - is on it, too.

Harden is among the best players not only in Houston history, but in NBA history, period. He's a perennial All-Star and an MVP who reinvented the game as a scorer ("I changed the game!'' he says) ...

So ... what's not to like?

James Harden. That's what's not to like.

The Rockets made eight straight playoff appearances and two Western Conference Finals appearances with Harden from 2012-20. So when things were good, they were very good.

But the nasty way in which Harden exited Houston in 2020 - the weight gains and the strip clubs and the pouting and the selfishness - still stings.

He is now said to "miss Houston.'' And why not? It's a lovely city.

But why didn't he recognize that while he was here? And if the answer is that he wished to escape the Rockets' at-the-time rebuild?

Guess what? The at-the-time rebuild is still ongoing.

Harden, it is said, deeply desires to be "the guy,'' which was a problem on Kevin Durant's Nets. And yet one of the very things that drew him to Philly was the brilliance of Joel Embiid. And now he's tired of sharing again?

Houston, thanks to the additions of lottery picks Jalen Green and Jabari Smith, is building something. Harden, Green, Smith and another lottery pick would in theory accelerate the build ...

Unless Harden disagrees with the direction.

Or thinks one of the other kids is stealing his spotlight.

Or takes days off because of the lure of the ... maybe ... discount filet at the strip club.

Does Harden have "ties to Houston''? Wonderful. But he's proven those "ties'' are easy to unknot.

We're not skeptical of the idea of James Harden contemplating a summer free-agency return to the Rockets.

What we're skeptical of is ... James Harden.

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