James Harden Rumors | Hoops Rumors

James Harden Wins Sixth Man Of The Year

May 10th, 2012 at 3:21pm CST by Luke Adams

3:21pm: Harden has officially received the award at a Oklahoma City press conference. He received 115 of 119 possible first-place votes, with Williams receiving the other four. Williams was the runner-up, with Terry, Al Harrington, and Manu Ginobili rounding out the top five.

10:23am: The Thunder will hold a news conference this afternoon where the team is expected to officially announce that James Harden has won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, according to Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman. The news conference is scheduled for 3:00pm local time, Mayberry tweets.

Harden came off the bench in 60 of his 62 games for Oklahoma City this season, taking a giant step forward in his third season in the league. The 22-year-old averaged 16.8 PPG on .491/.390/846 shooting, and earned an invite to Team USA’s preliminary Olympic roster. In addition to winning the Sixth Man of the Year award, Harden also received a few votes for the league’s Most Improved Player award, finishing 18th.

Lou Williams of the Sixers, Jason Terry of the Mavericks, and Taj Gibson of the Bulls were among the other players expected to be considered for Sixth Man of the Year.

Team USA Olympic Roster Updates: Thursday

May 3rd, 2012 at 5:38pm CST by Luke Adams

5:38pm: In a statement released to the media, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo has announced that James Harden and Anthony Davis will be added to Team USA's preliminary Olympic roster.

12:31pm: James Harden will likely be added to Team USA's preliminary Olympic roster, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

10:36am: With the 2012 London Olympics less than three months away, Jerry Colangelo and Team USA are inviting new partipants to the U.S. select team. Michael Lee of the Washington Post reports that John Wall has received an invite for the select team, while Kyrie Irving will also be invited, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer (via Twitter).

Members of the select team aren't considered finalists for the London roster, but will scrimmage against the Olympic team and will be part of the player pool for future international competition. According to Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee, DeMarcus Cousins will also be invited to join the select squad.

Given the recent injuries to members of the Olympic player pool, including Dwight Howard and LaMarcus Aldridge, Colangelo has said one or two big men could be added to the list of finalists. Anthony Davis is rumored to be one of those additions.

Poll: How Would A Suspension Impact Lakers?

April 22nd, 2012 at 5:43pm CST by Daniel Seco

Metta World Peace attacked Thunder guard James Harden on Sunday afternoon with a vicious elbow to the side of the head after World Peace scored on a dunk near the end of the second quarter. The blow caused Harden to collapse on the ground, writhing in pain. World Peace unsuccessfully attempted to convince officials that he was merely celebrating his thunderous two-handed slam with the raucous Lakers crowd.

As a result of his actions, World Peace was ejected from the game for a Flagrant 2 while Harden was treated for concussion-like symptoms and did not return in second half. Given World Peace's notorious history involving violence, many talking heads including Magic Johnson and Jon Barry concluded it would be appropriate for the former St. John's star to receive a suspension for his actions. With the Lakers set to conclude their regular season on Thursday against the Kings, it would not be unlikely for a potential suspension of World Peace to extend into the playoffs.

Thunder Will Try To Sign Both Harden, Ibaka

April 22nd, 2012 at 1:55pm CST by Michael Pina

To nobody's surprise, Thunder general manager Sam Presti told Yahoo! Sports' Marc J. Spears that the team would try to sign both James Harden and Serge Ibaka as soon as they're eligibile for extensions, which will be July 1st when free agency officially begins. After Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the two are regarded as Oklahoma City's best players.

Both Harden and Ibaka will become restricted free agents at the end of next season, and given the team's stature as a small market team that's already signed two players to max deals, it's believed they'll be able to keep only one of them. If Harden chooses not to accept an extension offer and hit free agency in the following offseason, it's expected he'll command as much as $10MM per year, which would seriously limit the Thunder's cap flexibility moving forward.

Serge Ibaka is one of the favorites to win Defensive Player of the Year, and James Harden is the favorite to win Sixth Man of the Year. Both players are only 22-years-old.

Dwight Howard Rumors: Friday

March 9th, 2012 at 6:27pm CST by Luke Adams

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com wrote last night that the Magic would seek a Carmelo Anthony-esque haul if they decided to trade Dwight Howard. The teams on Howard's list of preferred destinations may have difficulty putting together such a package, but plenty of other clubs, such as the Hawks, Warriors, and Rockets, are still in the hunt. We'll follow today's Howard rumblings right here, with the latest updates at the top of the page:

The Magic leaked the Thunder's interest in Howard just to let other teams know that a price similar to the package of James Harden and Serge Ibaka is what Orlando is looking for, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel tweets that the Magic executives are not at odds over Brook Lopez, who is in the discussion because the Nets are Howard's favored destination. Question remains, however, about whether team CEO Alex Martins or GM Otis Smith has final say on a deal.
Robbins also tweets that the only way Howard would agree to a sign-and-trade is if the team he wants to go to does not have enough cap space for him.
Sam Amick of SI.com shares some Howard updates in his latest column, noting that the Bulls have been "quietly deliberating" a play for D12 all season, but won't pursue him without assurances he'd remain in Chicago. Amick also hears that Magic GM Otis Smith isn't seriously interested in anyone the Warriors could offer for Howard.
Howard's list of teams is becoming somewhat irrelevant at this point, according to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld. If the Magic get a serious offer from a team besides the Mavericks, Lakers, or Nets, they're just as likely to pull the trigger as they would be with one of those clubs.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel can't see any sort of trade with the Hawks working. He doesn't think Howard would re-sign in Atlanta if dealt there, and he doesn't think the Magic could acquire Josh Smith without giving up Howard — even if they could, he's not sure the presence of Smith convinces D12 to stay in Orlando (Twitter links).
Brian Schmitz of the Sentinel (Twitter link) also doesn't see the Hawks as a fit for Howard, saying the hometown team "offers no allure" for the Atlanta native. He adds that the Magic want Kyle Lowry from the Rockets in any Howard deal.
The Magic talked to the Thunder about Howard, but Oklahoma City balked at giving up James Harden and Serge Ibaka, reports Schmitz (via Twitter). While that's entirely understandable, the idea of Howard playing with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, even if it's just for two months, is pretty fun, isn't it?
It was reported yesterday that Otis Smith has talked to "all 29 teams" about Howard, but Schmitz tweets that only six to eight are serious — the other GMs just want to tell their owners they've called.