Houston Rockets star James Harden has been very quiet on Twitter over the past six months. On Monday, the 31-year-old broke his silence.
Harden chose an interesting time to return to Twitter. Over the past few months, rumors have been running rampant on social media regarding a possible trade centering around him. Just one week ago, The Athletic NBA insider Shams Charania reported that the Philadelphia 76ers had serious interest in acquiring him.
“I’m told Philadelphia is expected to be interested in and pursue James Harden,” he said.
Prior to that, there was some chatter regarding the Chicago Bulls possibly making a move for him, but thus far nothing has materialized on that front.
Up to this point, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has consistently maintained that he has no interest in moving Harden.
Big year for Paul George. https://t.co/REbRZuUAOC
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 7, 2020
“We’re not blowing up anything,” he said in a recent interview. “You have James Harden and Russell Westbrook and you have almost 90 percent of your salaries tied up in them and Eric Gordon. But anytime you have players like Eric, P.J. (Tucker), James and Russell, there’s no reason to blow up your roster.
“This is still our window, the next couple years,” Fertitta added. “James and Russell are in their early 30s. We’re not blowing up anything. We plan on contending. I always said you want to set yourself up to be one of the top four teams in your conference each year and then it takes a little luck to win. You look at every year, it always takes a little luck.
“So, we’re going to set ourselves up to make the moves, to be one of the top teams. We’re going to do whatever we have to do to win. I can promise that to my fans and compete for the NBA championship this year.”
A peace offering from Kawhi to Snoop. https://t.co/SzdYcXdUBi
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 7, 2020
While all of that is well and good, there is something to be said for the fact that Houston has the fifth highest payroll in the NBA next year and an owner who has been known to be frugal.
Harden is owed $41.3 million in 2020-21, $44.3 million in 2021-22 and has a player-option worth $47.4 million in 2022-23. By 2022-23, Houston will be paying just Harden, Russell Westbrook and Eric Gordon $114 million combined. That is a lot of dough tied up in three players who will have a tough time securing a championship.
Based on all that, it is easy to see why there have been so many rumors and so much speculation in regards to Harden’s future.
This is gonna be fun. https://t.co/0FojKZcCSx
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 9, 2020
Along the same lines, it’s also not particularly difficult to decipher why Harden chose this tweet to be his first one after a six-month layoff. He wants all the fans and critics to know that he hears the outside noise, but is ultimately paying it no mind.
The former league MVP cannot control getting traded. If it happens, it happens. He can only focus on improving as a player and letting his game do the talking.
For the time being, that’s probably the wisest course of action he can take.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
