The Rockets guard has gone beyond the usual embarrassing ways of forcing trade. He is now attacking the disrespect towards the pandemic.
Houston Rockets defender James Harden, headliner, joins the huddle during the fourth quarter of an NBA preseason basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, in Houston. (Mark Mulligan / Houston Chronicle via AP)
Trade requests have been part of the NBA since… well, almost always.
Viewed through the simple-ma-simplistic lens, James Harden is now doing nothing different than what Wilt Chamberlain did in Philadelphia, what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did in Milwaukee, what Hakeem Olajuwon did in Houston, what Dwight Howard did in Orlando, what Kobe Bryant did in Los Angeles, what Carmelo Anthony did in Denver (and New York), what Anthony Davis did in New Orleans, et cetera, et cetera.
Then again, what Harden does is not the same thing.
Oh, of course not the first athlete who did himself a pain in the back end to get what he wants. He’s almost like the only one who’s so tired of his situation that he leaves all appearances of professionalism with the simple hope of spending thinner front office patience than a supermodel.
He is the first, however, to disarm arms to achieve his goals.
I recognize that “weapon” is a loaded word here. And I don’t use it lightly. Take a moment and think about what Harden has done.
He jumped at the start of a training camp to the point that he was willing to be embarrassed – which, again, is not unusual in itself – but while he was doing so, he also made a point of being publicly attending a rapper’s birthday party, avoiding the league’s social distance protocols and thus further delaying entry into team activity due to separation and return however many COVID-19 negative tests were required.
Doing that once was bad enough … but doing it twice?
On December 21 – two days before the opening of the Rockets season – Harden decided to go to a private, and reportedly crowded, indoor party. He was not wearing a mask there.
In doing so, Harden knew he would be caught and put back in the league’s “health and safety protocol” program and would have to break for several more days and play the game. lost, or he thought no one would find out and he would have gotten back to interacting with teammates and coaches and staff the next day, taking the visible to them no matter what he had seen at the party.
If it’s the previous one, well, that’s a joke. And if the last one… well, that’s dangerously careless.
In a way, Harden got lucky – between being out, one team player injured, two teams doing a positive test, and four others being held out as a result of a public haircut, the game of the Rockets against the Oklahoma City Thunder to be knocked out, with at least eight of their players unavailable. As a result, he was fined $ 50,000 for violating protocols, but he didn’t get the double whammy of missing a game review that resulted, because, well, the game didn’t happen between.
Just think about it for a second, though: A. positive result for Harden in this position the Rockets had to postpone the opening of their season. Since he was one of only a few players on the same team who couldn’t bother following some very clear rules, not to mention anything of common sense.
Following this situation, some pundits have called on the league to reconsider a “mini-bubble” plan, where teams from the same area would gather to catch up and face off. on each other, according to many smaller versions of the bubble Orlando. This, they argue, would clear up any doubts, without allowing players to make mistakes.
Except Harden doesn’t make “mistakes. “He has been very deliberate – in avoiding the rules, as well as the safety of his team.
And why? Since the Rockets are no longer controversies in his eyes? He is the one who took them away from Lou Williams, Pat Beverley and Montrezl Harrell for Chris Paul to pick things up. He is also the owner of the Rockets who then sent Paul off for BFF Russell Westbrook when Paul’s intensity became difficult. And then, surprisingly, Westbrook didn’t work out, either, and he was gone too.
Houston was constantly making seismic changes to his roster build to include Harden, and now, with several years left on his contract, he wants out because he’s not. fond of leading the team? He is the one who explained that side. He is also the one who has always performed well in the postseason in that field, but to admit that that would require a level of self – awareness that he clearly does not have.
Still, all right – his level of ignorance is staggering, though he has hardly ever been seen. Something that is not yet needed or justified seo. I’m not even suggesting he pull it up, spend his time, and do something to earn his $ 41 million-plus salary. No, that would be silly. Instead, there are still ways to inflict pain on himself, still ways to get his point across, still ways to try to force the Rockets ’hand that they and others don’t have to expose to COVID-19.
Many previous trade applications over the years have been rude and thoughtless. No one, however, managed to come close to this one’s brutal, deceptive ability.
Harden may eventually get what he wants. Hope no one else has to pay for it.