OUWA.org – James Harden turned down a historic $50M-per-year extension with Rockets, focused on trade to Nets, per report. After a couple of weeks of wavering, James Harden has made up his mind. He wants to play for the Brooklyn Nets and is concentrated on forcing the Houston Rockets to trade him there so he can form a superteam alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and compete for a title.
Harden’s desire to play for the Nets is so strong that he turned down a historic contract extension offer from the Rockets, consistent with Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The Rockets’ offer would have made Harden the primary player united history to form $50 million per annum.
As Harden’s conversations with the Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving ramped up in recent weeks on the West Coast, sources say the Rockets made a pitch for him to sign the utmost allowable extension — two years and $103 million on top of the remaining three years, $133 million on his current deal.
Unfortunately for Harden, it’s a lot easier to demand a trade than it is to form one to happen. thus far there are no serious discussions between the Rockets and Nets, and there are multiple issues within the way of a deal. For one, the Rockets have Harden under contract for multiple years and haven’t any desire to trade him, and therefore the Nets don’t have the assets to tug off a trade of such magnitude.
Still, Harden is decided to form it to happen.
Harden believes his window to chase championships in Houston has ended, and constructing an excellent team with the Nets represents his best pathway to a title, sources said. Harden can become a free agent in 2022 if he opts out of the ultimate year of his contract — and sources say that Brooklyn represents a two-year play to win a title before choosing subsequent steps in his career.
This has been described by one source as “his AD moment,” in regard to All-Star Anthony Davis who forced his answer of latest Orleans for the chance to win a title with the l. a. Lakers.
On the one hand, the Davis situation was somewhat unique considering the team he wanted to play for had legitimate assets to trade for somebody. At an equivalent time, it also showed that the truly elite players are ready to make things happen during this league once they throw their weight around.
So while there’s still a variety of obstacles — no real trade talks, the Nets’ lack of necessary trade pieces — that might seem to form this deal something of an extended shot, we also can’t write it off. Things have already changed rapidly since the primary rumblings of Harden’s interest within the Nets, to the purpose that he’s now demanding a trade there. Houston softening their stance, or the inclusion of a 3rd team within the talks could take things in a completely different direction before we all know it.
The truth is we actually just do not know what is going on to happen over the subsequent few weeks, especially with such a condensed offseason period. But if the past few days are any indication, we’re certainly an exciting time.
