Is James Harden Setting a Bad Precedent in the NBA

One of the most prolific scorers in NBA history is James Harden. One on one, he’s pretty much unguardable on the basketball court.

For the past several years, Harden has been part of the Houston Rockets but recent actions have caused the Rockets to create a four-team trade with the Brooklyn Nets to bring Harden to New York. While this trade isn’t terribly newsworthy, the actions surrounding it might be.

Trouble Began Before the Season

When the Rockets chose to fire their head coach and trade away other marquee players, James Harden requested a trade from the team. Unfortunately, this was met with stiff opposition by the Rockets as the team hoped to rebuild around Harden, John Wall, and DeMarcus Cousins. Harden saw this as a problem and began to act in a way that would force a trade before training camp began.

Partying Away in Las Vegas

One thing that was not part of the NBA plan this year was to deal with players that chose to go against the COVID-19 protocols put in place. After a successful finish to the 2019-2020 season in a bubble environment in Orlando, the NBA hoped players would avoid trouble and follow guidelines to ensure games could be played. Unfortunately, that wasn’t how James Harden chose to approach this season.

Before training camp began, Harden was seen on social media sites partying in Las Vegas and other areas with larger than allowed crowds and without a mask in place. Some of these actions took place directly before training camp, which caused Harden to arrive in Houston and immediately be faced with the need to quarantine from his team. The NBA placed strict guidelines in place and Harden was required to have six negative COVID-19 tests in a row before he could join the team.

A Shortened NBA Training Camp Showed Harden Out of Shape

While you can’t take away the ability James Harden has for dominating one on one on the court, it was pretty obvious he was carrying some extra weight into the preseason games. The shortened training camp meant the Rockets didn’t have time to get Harden into basketball shape but instead had to hope he would get into shape during the season.

A Disgruntled James Harden takes to the Podium

After the start of the season, there were more issues between James Harden and the Houston Rockets and they reached the breaking point after game nine when he took to the podium in disgust. Shortly after this, the Rockets got to work to create a massive trade that would send Harden to the Brooklyn Nets where he wanted to go before the season began.

The Four-Team NBA Trade Details

The basics of the trade between the four teams, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Indiana Pacers is to get James Harden to the Nets. With this in mind, Houston receives a large amount of compensation for allowing this trade to take place.

Here are some of the details:

• Cavaliers Receive –Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince

• Nets Receive –James Harden, second-round pick

• Pacers Receive –Caris LeVert, second-round pick

• Rockets Receive –Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, Victor Oladipo, four first-round picks, and four-first round pick swaps (all picks are unprotected)

As you can see, the overall result of this trade is that James Harden will get what he wants and be sent to the Brooklyn Nets to join up with Kevin Durant. The goal is to create a team that can compete with the Los Angeles Lakers, but something seems amiss.

Back to the Original Question?

If you’re an NBA fan, you’re used to superstar players forcing their way from one team to another when they want to team up with others or think the organization isn’t treating them right. The original question had to do with whether or not James Harden is setting a bad precedent. We haven’t seen players wait until the season had started to begin to cause problems in the past.

In all fairness, Harden did start to make noise before the season, but the Houston Rockets were certain they could keep him and build a good team around him. Little did they know their cornerstone superstar would become a headache that needed to be shipped out of town. Is this the way a professional team and player should behave? Has this become a terrible precedent that others will use in the future to force their way out of teams they don’t want to play for?