James Harden continues to generate second and third variants of selfishness in his quest to be traded off the Houston Rockets. Harden's 10-year old tantrums of recent days has all the makings of a Christmas movie remake...
On Wednesday the NBA ruled Harden out of Houston's scheduled opening game v. the Oklahoma City Thunder under health and safety guidelines. Harden was earlier the subject of a viral video of being at a strip club without a face cover that has resulted in a $50,000 league fine.
The game was postponed after Kenyon Martin Jr. tested positive for Covid, with teammates John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins among those in contact tracing protocol. The group had gathered at an apartment to get haircuts. Along with another player unavailable, that left the Rockets below the eight-player availability standard. Feels like March 11 all over.
Harden was also reportedly involved in a series of practice altercations over the weekend, including firing a basketball at rookie Jae'Sean Tate. Nice leadership skills. The former MVP/ball hog has demanded a trade for weeks, preferably to either the Philadelphia 76ers or Brooklyn Nets. Harden later expanded his trade list to include the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks. The Heat are said to be not interested while the Bucks do not have the current assets to make a deal work. These kind of tactics are not new in the NBA, Jimmy Butler played out a weeks-long drama two years ago until finally traded by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Anthony Davis's eventual departure from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Lakers also came after a trade request.
As for the apparent Rockets outbreak, the league announced last week just one out of 549 players had tested positive in the latest round of testing, which was considered a good sign until today.