NBA Trade Rumors: 5 Teams that should push hard for James Harden

Houston Rockets

It would not be a big surprise if the Houston Rockets emerged as a potential landing spot for James Harden. He’s a player that the team was linked to when it was expected for him to hit the free-agency market and even though the idea of that cooled significantly over the past few weeks, I don’t believe it’s something that can be completely counted out. And with the cap space that the Rockets have, they could easily absorb Harden’s contract via trade if needed.

The big question for the Rockets is whether they would want Harden to eat up minutes that could end up being valuable to such a young core. Ultimately, that’s what a potential pursuit of Harden could come down to. How badly do they want to force the issue of taking a step forward and whether they’re willing to make the trade-off that could possibly end up stunting the progression of some of their younger players?

In the end, I believe the Rockets will decide against making a full-blown pursuit of Harden and will use their money elsewhere in free agency. For as much history as these two sides have with each other, a reunion doesn’t make a ton of sense this offseason.