Whoa.
Wall: When you have certain guys that don’t want to buy in, it’s hard.
— Kelly Iko (@KellyIkoNBA) January 13, 2021
Whoa!
John Wall: "If we can all get on the same page, we can be something good here. We can't dwell down on it because it's only been 9 games. Come on, man. You're going to jump off the cliff off of 9 games? There's a lot of basketball still to be played." #Rockets
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) January 13, 2021
Wowowowowow!
Teams involved in James Harden talks getting indications Rockets are preparing to move quickly towards a deal, league sources told @SInow —possibly as soon as today.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) January 13, 2021
[Incoherent spluttering.]
Rockets coach Stephen Silas said James Harden was not at practice today. "We felt that it was best for the group and best for James not to come to practice."
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) January 13, 2021
Yes...
Christian Wood: “I didn’t come to the Houston #Rockets to lose any games...I’m gonna make sure everybody on this team competes.”
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) January 13, 2021
Ha ha ha...
Demarcus Cousins: "Other 14 the guys in the locker room have done nothing to him. For us to be on the receiving end of disrespectful comments and antics...it's unfair to the rest of the guys in the locker room.
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) January 13, 2021
Yes!
The Rockets are pursuing a trade package from the 76ers that would be headlined by Ben Simmons and Tyrese Maxey, league sources say
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 13, 2021
A very quick recap, in case the trade is happening literally as I type this: James Harden wants out of Houston. He blew off their preseason stuff in favor of going to various maskless indoor social events, and has been listless and shitty (also, from certain angles, seemingly quite a bit more rotund than last season?) since returning to action. Last night, after the Rockets got blown out by a breezy Lakers squad that never broke a sweat, Harden, who scored 16 points of 5-for-16 shooting and went minus-23 in 31 minutes of visibly checked-out play, gave what he had to know would be a cosmically bridge-burning answer to a postgame question about the state of the team:
REPORTER: James, are you surprised that you all never made a run at all in this one?
HARDEN: We're just not good enough. We just, we don't, obviously chemistry, talent-wise, just everything, you know, it's clear, like I said these last few games. They just, from the beginning of the game, they were aggressive, veteran team obviously, championship team, one of the best teams that we have in this league. I love this city, you know, I literally have done everything that I can, um, you know, this situation is crazy, you know, it's something that I don't think can be fixed, so, um. Yeah. Thanks.
If Harden's teammates took that as him saying that they are not good enough, well, I cannot really blame them! In any event that seems to be how they've taken it, judging by John Wall's and DeMarcus Cousins's comments in the tweets embedded up there. This afternoon's reports sure make it seem as though Harden will not play another game—or indeed participate in another practice—as a Houston Rocket, in part because (reading between the lines here) his teammates all want to kick his ass.
The basketball has been appalling, all across the league. Half the rostered players are on the shelf because of COVID-19 contact-tracing protocols, and all the rest of them (that are not on the Lakers) seem miserable, and are playing with all the joy of political prisoners forced to dance at gunpoint. Dudes with names like "Dakota Mathias" and "Bark Farglebargle" are getting crunch-time minutes for teams with playoff ambitions. James Harden burning the whole shit down and making John Wall and Boogie Cousins want to beat him up is the most entertaining thing that has happened in this abominable travesty of a season. All I need now is for the Rockets to swap Harden for the apparently equally disgruntled Kyrie Irving, in what would be, by miles, the most accursed trade of my lifetime.
As to that:
News: There has been legitimate movement on the Harden front.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) January 13, 2021
Brooklyn is prepared to offer *anyone* that Houston wants aside from Durant for Harden, as well as 3 1sts & swaps.
BK willing to make the same bet it once made on KG & Pierce, but on Harden.
Ha ha ha!
UPDATE: The trade did, in fact, happen while I was typing this, and it is a doozy.
Reporting w/ @RamonaShelburne: Brooklyn’s acquiring James Harden in a three-way deal with Cleveland. Caris LeVert, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, four 1st round picks – including Cavs’ 2022 first via Bucks -- and 4 Nets pick swaps to Rockets. Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince to Cavs. https://t.co/qM0ZDH4dH3
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 13, 2021
The Indiana Pacers are moving Victor Oladipo to the Rockets for package around Caris LeVert, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 13, 2021
Holy smokes.
