Houston Rockets star James Harden did not directly answer questions about his desire to be traded during his first media availability since his brief dropout at the start of training camp.
“Right now, I’m just focused on being here,” Harden said on Wednesday, a day after 21 minutes in a preseason win over the San Antonio Spurs. “Today was good. Yesterday felt really good to be there for the first time since the bubble. I didn’t really have a chance to do much 5-on-5 work, but for the first time I was there, it felt pretty good. “
Harden, a perennial All-Star who, according to sources, has asked to be traded to a select list of contenders, including the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, was not allowed to practice until Monday due to his late arrival at training camp.
Harden traveled to Atlanta for rapper Lil Baby’s birthday party and then to Las Vegas, where he socialized in clubs, during the period when NBA players had to undergo daily coronavirus tests and participate in individual training at team facilities and self-quarantine, other than essential activities.
“I was just training,” Harden said when asked what point he was trying to cross by making those trips instead of reporting to the training camp in time.
When asked what he was training for, Harden said, “The start of the NBA season.” He said he worked with “my personal trainers” during the trip.
Harden didn’t report to Houston until December 8 – two days after the Rockets began team training. He missed the Rockets’ first two preseason games, acknowledging that he is “catching up” with game conditioning and learning the systems of Stephen Silas, coach of the Houston freshmen.
“I can only focus on this moment, and for me the best James Harden is making sure I’m in shape,” said Harden. “As I said, I hadn’t even had a chance to play 5-on-5. Individual training, if you do individual basketball practice, is great, but as any NBA player can attest, nothing beats 5- 5. training, physicality, reading and things like that. Yesterday for the first time I was there, I felt good, which is exciting. “
Harden’s trade request is the elephant in the locker room that the Rockets don’t want to discuss, both in the media and with the old face of the franchise.
“Nothing has been said about it since I got here,” Harden said. “Everyone in the locker room and coaching staff is focused on stepping up and preparing for the season. That’s all that matters.”
That’s a deliberate approach from the Rockets coaches and teammates, who have jointly vowed to focus on basketball amid the possible distraction from Harden’s saga.
“I’m trying not to ask him about that because that’s his personal business,” said point guard John Wall, a former All-Star recently traded by the Washington Wizards, along with a protected future first round for Russell Westbrook. “All I’m concerned about is what we can do to make this Rockets team the best we can be while everyone is here and moving on.”
DeMarcus Cousins, the former All-Star center who, like Wall, is trying to make a comeback with the Rockets after multiple serious injuries, expressed a similar sentiment.
“Ultimately, this is a company,” said Cousins. ‘You can only respect a man because he does what he thinks is best for him, his personal life and his career. So no, to be honest I don’t [tried to convince Harden to commit to the Rockets], and I don’t really feel like that’s my place. That is a decision he must make for himself.
“My job is, while we are at work and while we are at the practice, to hold everyone accountable. We come in every day to work and try to get better every day. sit on the floor, let’s go to war. “
Harden complimented Silas, a longtime NBA assistant who was recently the attack coordinator for the Dallas Mavericks, but until this week they had virtually no communication. Their conversations focused on basketball strategy.
“If we knew exactly where his head was, I think it would be good for everyone,” said Silas. “But we’re dealing with reality: things change from day to day, things change from game to game. As I said before, my job is to coach this basketball team and make sure these guys are on the right track. positions. Part of that is the spirit of the group, and I think the spirit of the group, especially based on last night’s game, is pretty good. “
Silas has said several times that he will focus on coaching and let the front office handle staffing decisions, such as possibly trading Harden.
When asked if he had confidence in recently promoted CEO Rafael Stone, Harden did not reply, “We haven’t had a conversation.”