The Houston Rockets are increasingly expanding commercial discussions about All-NBA guard James Harden beyond their favorite destinations, the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, gave strong to ESPN.
Several caliber playoff teams at the Eastern and Western conferences told ESPN that they are more comfortable engaging high-level commercial assets in talks to acquire Harden. The Rockets have ongoing discussions on several brakes and have been communicating with Harden about those scenarios, sources said.
Several teams told ESPN that they feel less inhibited by switching to Harden without the guarantee that he would re-sign once he could become a free agent in two years.
While the Sixers have expressed a willingness to include All-Star scout Ben Simmons in the exchange packages for Harden, they are talks without having reached an agreement, sources said. The Nets are limited by the Rockets’ interest in their staff, and would probably need a third team to emerge in the talks, sources said. So far, the Rockets’ high starting price for young players and the national team has not moved any of their discussions to an advanced stage.
The Rockets plan to start the season next week with Harden sharing the defensive zone with John Wall, but they are showing a desire for the teams to complete a deal as soon as possible, sources said.
Harden, three-time scoring champion and MVP of the 2018 NBA, was not reported with Houston until Dec. 8, two days after the Rockets began team practice. They missed the Rockets’ first two preseason games and acknowledged that he is “in catch-up mode” with game conditioning and learning the systems of the new Houston coach, Stephen Silas.
Harden, 31, asked for a trade-off before training camp, despite the Rockets offering him a two-year, $ 103 million contract extension, in addition to the three-year, $ 133 million he has yet to leave, sources say an ESPN.
“I can only concentrate right now, and for me, the best thing about James Harden is making sure he’s fit,” Harden told reporters Wednesday. “Like I said, I hadn’t even had a chance to play 5 to 5. Individual training, when I have individual basketball training, it’s great, but as all NBA players can agree, there’s nothing like 5 training, fitness, reading and stuff like that. Yesterday, for the first time, I felt good and that’s exciting. “
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.