The Rockets still expect to begin the season with former MVPs James Harden and Russell Westbrook on their roster, despite a handful of November trade rumors, Shams Charania of The Athletic said during an appearance on Complex’s Load Management podcast.
Although there’s no momentum toward a trade involving either player, Charania dropped a couple interesting tidbits during his podcast discussion about the Rockets stars, mentioning that the Warriors “made a call” about Harden and that the Cavaliers talked to Houston about Westbrook. Based on Charania’s comments, it doesn’t sound like any traction was gained in either case.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- The Grizzlies are currently carrying 17 players on guaranteed contracts, meaning a couple of those players will have to be traded or released before the start of the regular season. Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian suggests that Mario Hezonja and Marko Guduric appear to be the most likely odd men out.
- Confirming a previous report, Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle reiterated today that Kristaps Porzingis (knee) won’t play until at least January, per Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Carlisle did say that Porzingis’ rehab is going well and that the big man is doing “light court work.”
- Mavericks rookie guard Tyrell Terry will receive $4.6MM in guaranteed money on his four-year contract, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. While we don’t know the exact terms of Terry’s deal, it sounds like his first three seasons will be guaranteed.
- The three-year, minimum-salary contract that second-rounder Tre Jones signed with the Spurs is fully guaranteed for the first two years, as Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports details (via Twitter).
No! No to Westbrook!
Yeah he would really ruin that winning culture in Cleveland.
Lol…no, but he likely wouldn’t help the culture very much either.
Cleveland can’t win anything without LeBron. Another fact.
Harden getting traded to Golden State would be amazing. He’d finally have a real shot at winning a ring too!
Lol golden warriors wont sniff a title this year..sorry ti break the bad news sweetie. Harden better off in houston as a leader. No way he follows orders from kerr or Tyler.
Yeah throwing a ‘me me me’ guy into a ‘team’ isn’t going to win anything at all.
That said the comment section should go pretty mental about it…nice work Luke!
Golden warriors WISH Luke worked for them
The Warriors dynasty has been over since 2019, yet their fans continue to keep wishing it wasn’t like the Japanese soldiers stranded in the South Pacific during the late 1940’s who didn’t know their country had surrendered years earlier.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I am kind of burned out on Harden and Westbrook speculation. Either trade them or run it back, but figure it out one way or the other.
It was just that, speculation. But all of the haters here thought that it was going to happen because they’re so afraid of Harden and company. They are right to Fear the Beard!!!!
wonder who gsw would have offered…. klay + wiseman??
Would have certainly been included Wiseman and Paschall. Doubt the Warriors would move Klay not that Houston would want to take a shot on him anyway. Wiggins would be much more likely. Wiseman, Pachall, Wiggins and a kings ransom of draft picks might be enough to get the deal done. If the Rockets are determined to move Harden Brooklyn seems like a much better fit. Get a handful of young guys who are about to hit their stride and they’d get him out of the West for the foreseeable future.
I think, a more interesting move for the Warriors would be get Westbrook to run second unit. Wouldn’t cost as much in a trade.
Cause Russ would take a role coming off the bench.
And how high would crust luxury tax be having two super max contracts with Klay and Dray.
Morey’s decision-making while he was the GM in Houston definitely seems suspect in hindsight. Did he ever consider how the additions of players like Russ, CP3, Melo, Ryan Anderson, etc. would blend with the team chemistry and scheme at all? Same goes with shipping away Capela and P-Bev. It just seems like he was running a 2K team, and the moment the additions didn’t go as hoped, he pulled the plug and would impulsively make more dramatic additions. It’s impossible to develop a core of players when you don’t provide the environment in which to make that possible.
Worked pretty well the made it deep into the playoffs every year and almost beat Golden State. The Russ trade wasn’t on him it was on the owner and harden.
Knicks or bulls should trade for Westbrick…