Report: Harden to be ‘professional, engaged’ upon rejoining Rockets

“Harden has expressed to Rockets ownership and management his intention to be professional and engaged upon joining the team,” per ESPN.

All-Star guard James Harden plans to be “professional and engaged” upon rejoining the Houston Rockets after his offseason trade request, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.

Assuming Harden again tests negative for COVID-19, he is expected to join the team on the practice court later Monday.

While Harden has not dropped his trade request, per ESPN, he remains under contract for at least two more seasons. Thus, the Rockets have yet to grant the request, as they work to either salvage the relationship or extract fair value from another team for a perennial MVP finalist.

According to Wojnarowski and Shelburne, Harden is understanding of that process and knows that it could take time. Their report:

After detouring to social engagements in Atlanta and Las Vegas before reporting late for training camp last week, Harden — a league MVP and three-time NBA scoring champion — has expressed to Rockets ownership and management his intention to be professional and engaged upon joining the team, sources said.

For the Rockets, this is necessary for the team to operate under new coach Stephen Silas while also allowing for some leverage in the trade market to get closer to full value for Harden. The appearance of a distressed asset only hinders an organization in making a trade of this magnitude, and Harden has expressed understanding of that concept, as well as the idea that it may take time to find a trade that returns appropriate value to the Rockets, sources said.

For the Rockets, it could be one of the better realistic scenarios after an offseason of significant uncertainty. While unlikely, any path to rebuilding the relationship with Harden and eventually convincing him to drop the trade request likely involves the team winning regular-season games at a high level. That can’t happen unless Harden is both present and fully committed, which the ESPN report suggests that he will be.

More realistically, if Harden is to be traded, the Rockets need him to be patient as they work to get the best potential return. It could be that proposals near the 2020-21 trade deadline in March, or even during free agency in the 2021 offseason, could be more lucrative than offers on the table today. If the report of Harden’s patience is accurate, that could give the Rockets considerably more time and leverage in trade talks.

Harden has yet to speak on the record about the situation, but that could change later Monday, assuming he’s cleared to join his teammates at Houston’s training camp. Stay tuned.

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