Jeff Green excited for ‘special’ reunion with Westbrook, Harden

Jeff Green played multiple seasons with James Harden and Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City. They’ve since become MVPs, and now Green is ready for a reunion.

The Rockets will be the ninth NBA franchise for veteran forward Jeff Green, who agreed Monday to sign a 10-day contract with Houston.

But while the team is new to the 33-year-old, its two superstar guards in James Harden and Russell Westbrook are not.

After being selected as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by Seattle, Green started at power forward in Oklahoma City from 2008 until February 2011. That timeline means he overlapped with the first three seasons of Westbrook’s NBA career, and the initial two for Harden.

Since then, Westbrook and Harden have grown into nine-time and eight-time All-Stars, respectively, with each winning an MVP award.

Nearly 10 years later, with all three men in their 30s, they’ve suddenly been reunited with the Rockets. From Green’s perspective, that’s a special opportunity. In comments to Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston, he said:

It’s going to be special to see those two guys, the way they’ve grown. It’s been wonderful. As a fan of the game, it’s been great to see. I’m excited to be with them again.

Playing for something special, that’s what it’s all about. To do it with guys, we basically came in together, is going to be special.

Green played 30 games with Utah earlier this season, scoring 7.8 points (32.7% on 3-pointers) and grabbing 2.7 rebounds in 18.4 minutes per game. He was waived on Dec. 24 and has been without a team since.

Over his 12-year NBA career with eight teams, Green has averaged 13.0 points and 4.4 rebounds in 29.6 minutes. At 6-foot-8, he’s likely to be an option behind starter P.J. Tucker at center for the smaller Rockets.

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Besides scoring, height, and floor spacing, Green thinks his veteran experience could also be an asset — headlined by a trip to the 2018 NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In one of the defining performances of his career, Green tallied 19 points and eight rebounds in a road Game 7 victory at Boston to clinch the Eastern Conference Finals.

In comments to Berman, Green reflected on that experience:

What I can do on the floor, being versatile, the experience, being blessed to have played in the Finals.

At the end of the day, I did have LeBron James on my team. Here we have two superstars on this team as well, with a good group of guys. Hopefully that can translate into taking us to the promised land.

In Green’s two full seasons (2008-09 and 2009-10) with the Thunder alongside Westbrook as the starting point guard, Green posted some of the best numbers of his entire career at 15.8 points (44.9% shooting, 35.8% on 3-pointers) and 6.3 rebounds in 37.0 minutes per game.

Now 10 years later, it would be a shock if Green played anywhere close to the same minutes with the Rockets. Nonetheless, the past experience certainly can’t hurt, as it pertains to quickly finding chemistry.

Green should be available to play when Houston (34-20) returns to action Thursday night at Golden State (12-43). The game tips off at 9:30 p.m. Central time, with an exclusive national TV broadcast on TNT.

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