The James Harden and Chris Paul era appears to have recently boiled over in Houston, and while the remnants continue to fall down upon the Rockets franchise, the once-strong Western power now possess an exceedingly cloudy future.
As Harden and Paul stand as the team’s central pillars for success, their rumored opposition to each other poises to stir up monumental trouble. However, with recent news depicting the completely obliterated relationship between the two star players, the trouble already appears present to most around the league.
Paul ignited the fire after reportedly demanding a trade from Houston following the team’s elimination from the playoffs. A league source claimed Paul approached the Rockets with a “it’s him or me” statement, referring to his teammate, Harden. The same source also noted the two guards went months without speaking to each other during the season, implying that Paul’s wishes to leave the franchise came about midway through the season, rather than as a rash decision.
Since Paul began his tenure as a Rocket, stories have often surfaced detailing the two quarreling and pecking at each other during practice and games during the season. However, the banter between two allegedly has now risen to a point of no return. “They need to get away from one another. Chris doesn’t respect James’ standing in the league, and James doesn’t respect the work Chris has put in to this point,” claimed another league source while giving a description to this so–called “Houston civil war.”
SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019- TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW
Although this year Harden, Paul, and their supporting cast failed miserably to dethrone the Golden State Warriors despite Kevin Durant‘s absence during the series, the duo nearly took down the fully loaded Warriors the year before. Until Paul’s injury, the Rockets held a 3–2 lead over Golden State. However, as we all know, Golden State bounced back and steamrolled their way to another NBA Championship that year.
Paul attempted to silence the noise surrounding the two players after the initial reports claiming Paul wished for a trade surfaced. Paul put down any speculation involving his apparent trade request, voicing his opinions with a comment below an Instagram post. Paul simply stated, “Damn, that’s news to me,” below the post, which quickly gained attention from the media.
With the NBA Draft and free agency creeping closer, a major makeover appears as a high possibility for the Rockets, as players like Clint Capela could accompany Paul as trade assets amid this shaky end to Houston’s 2018–19 campaign.
