If James Harden wants to stay, the Rockets with John Wall might be really good

Could this really work?

It feels like the James Harden preseason drama and trade talk has calmed down for the moment for the Houston Rockets, perhaps a sign the franchise is seeing if its superstar will be happy with the current version of a team that’s fallen short of expectations year after year.

On New Year’s Eve, we finally got to see the full team together for the first time in 2020-21, with John Wall returning to play his first NBA game in 735 days and helping the Rockets beat the upstart Sacramento Kings.

It was one game, but the signs are there that the Wall and Harden combo could work well together, which is especially huge given the injuries and rehab Wall has gone through to come back to the court.

Wall did handle the ball as the point guard occasionally and here’s one result:

More importantly, before we go on, it appears Wall’s explosiveness is there, which is great news:

Back to Wall and Harden — we forget that the Chris Paul and Harden Rockets of 2017-18 were one CP3 injury away from, perhaps, upsetting the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Harden and a more traditional point guard like Wall (I know, I know — John Wall isn’t Chris Paul, but you get my point) is a better fit than Harden and Russell Westbrook were. The three-point shooting — Wall went 2-of-8 from distance on Thursday — is obviously a concern, but that might be some rust. We at least know Wall is a little better of a shooter from the arc in his career than Westbrook.

The Rockets also signed young breakout big man Christian Wood, who has proven he thrives in pick-and-roll situations with Harden. The supporting cast — Eric Gordon, Danuel House, P.J. Tucker and a DeMarcus Cousins likely eager to prove he can still be a force in the league — has the right compliments to Harden’s game.

Despite playing in an extremely crowded Western Conference, it makes you wonder: if the Rockets stuck with Harden and Wall and they successfully figure out how to divide the ball-handling … would that stop Harden from reportedly wanting to be dealt? And wouldn’t a fully-invested Harden make the Rockets a darkhorse in the West?

I know it seems far-fetched. Perhaps the lure of the Brooklyn Nets for both Harden and the return the Rockets could get will be too much. Maybe what we saw in this first game falls apart at some point.

But it’s at least intriguing to see what could be a good thing in Houston.

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