The Houston Rockets — not in an anonymous way, but in a “we are putting our names on this, quote me” kind of way — have pushed back hard on the narrative that there was tension between Chris Paul and James Harden that led to the Rockets trading CP3 for Russell Westbrook this offseason. Rockets GM Daryl Morey has denied it, team leader P.J. Tucker called it fake news, and Paul himself has pushed back.
Harden has done that again, speaking at his camp on Saturday.
Harden said he is “good” with Chris Paul.
— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) July 20, 2019
“Obviously as teammates, as competitors, we argued on the court. ... The negative media stuff, it wasn’t true. ... Me and Chris had constant communication.” #Rockets #Thunder #NBA pic.twitter.com/UvkyRpKFbt
James Harden on Chris Paul: “He’s a great dude. I have nothing negative to say about him.” #Rockets #Thunder #NBA pic.twitter.com/eDdObNqRvf
— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) July 20, 2019
.@JHarden13 on Chris Paul and all the media chatter the last few weeks, said it was all " false talk. Chris was great with him while he was here, great leader. Guys have disagreements on the court all the time. I've got nothing negative to say about Chris." @KPRC2
— Adam Wexler (@AdamJWexler) July 20, 2019
The counter-argument to this: Chris Paul is in Oklahoma City right now.
People will believe what they want to believe, but the Rockets guys have all gone on the record about this. Nothing leaked and anonymous.
From the Rockets’ perspective, they made a trade for Westbrook that is a roster upgrade. Houston has a dynamic duo that can compete with the Los Angeles teams and the other contenders around the league, and whatever questions fans and the media may have about the ultimate fit of Harden and Westbrook the talent level is not in question.
Do the Rockets make that trade if everything is great between Harden and Paul? Probably, if they saw CP3 as in decline and Westbrook as a talent upgrade (which they did). The Rockets can be a cold, business-like organization in terms of their pursuit of a title.
We will see next season if that calculation paid off. Whether or not Harden and CP3 got along.
