Gunman Eric Gordon said he believes the trade that sent former James Harden franchise cornerstone to the Brooklyn Nets allows the Houston Rockets to have “a real direction” under first-year Stephen Silas after a chaotic start to the season.
“Obviously you could tell from the summer and since the season started that you didn’t want to be here,” Gordon said after Thursday’s shooting, when he was the only member of the organization made available to the media. of communication. “For us, I think it just gives us a chance to do that [have] a real direction. All other team members can dig deeper and not worry about their situation. We can just move forward. “
Gordon was later ruled out of Thursday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Rockets announced a three-team deal with the Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday morning. Houston’s net traffic to the deal is four first-round picks (the Nets in 2022, 2024 and 2026 and Milwaukee in 2022 through Cleveland), the right to switch top players with the Nets in four more years, former Cavs keeper Dante Exum and former Nets goalkeeper Caris LeVert and striker Rodions Kurucs. LeVert will be redirected to the Indiana Pacers in a separate trade for former All-Star shooting guard Victor Oladipo, sources said.
The deal was resolved after a few awkward months in which Harden demanded a trade, stayed out of training camp and declared the Rockets “not good enough” after the loss on Tuesday night. against the Los Angeles Lakers, which ended up being the last game of the 2018 MVP in Houston uniform.
“On behalf of the entire Rockets organization and the city of Houston, I would like to thank James Harden for an amazing eight seasons in a Rockets uniform,” Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said in a statement. “James has provided us with so many good memories as we have seen him grow from the sixth man of the year to a perennial All-Star and MVP. My family and I also want to thank James for his many contributions outside the court, including generous charitable donations and multiple annual community events. We wish James the best of luck and will always be grateful for the memories. “
DeMarcus Cousins, of the rocket center, tore Harden up for being “disrespectful” hours before the trade ended Wednesday, saying Harden’s jokes and comments had been “completely unfair” to his Houston teammates.
Gordon, who arrived in Houston before the 2016-17 season and was Harden’s longest-serving Rockets teammate, didn’t accept Harden’s comments so harshly.
“For me, knowing him personally, I think I didn’t mean it until I respected him,” Gordon said. “That’s just for me. I think he just wanted a different situation. He proved it and he said it too … I don’t think he really wanted to despise the players, but he wanted to go out and he got it.”