James Harden was reportedly going to receive a max contract offer to return to the Houston Rockets this summer, but his supposed goals upon joining the team allegedly turned off the organization and new head coach Ime Udoka.
One of the biggest storylines after the 2022-2023 NBA season came to a close was if the rumors would become a reality and the one-time league MVP would return to the Houston Rockets. Reports during the season claimed both sides of the equation were interested in a surprising reunion after he forced his way out of town three years ago.
Related: Update on James Harden trade situation as 76ers start training camp
Yet, as the start of NBA free agency neared, new reports claimed the organization had gone in a different direction with its strategy for the offseason. Instead, they handed out big contracts to Raptors floor general Fred VanVleet and Grizzlies defensive ace Dillon Brooks. While James Harden opted into the final year of his contract with the 76ers and then requested a trade.
- James Harden stats (’22-’23): 21.0 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 10.7 APG, 1.2 SPG, 39% 3PT
James Harden told Houston Rockets he wanted to be the scoring champion next season
Well, it seems there was a very specific reason why what seemed like a probable return to Houston soured quickly for the 10-time All-Star. During a Wednesday edition of ESPN’s “First Take,” NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith claimed a “reliable source” spilled the beans on what happened and it had all to do with Harden wanting a return to being the top scorer in the league.
“I got tipped off last week by a very reliable source about something that happened in Houston a few months ago. The Houston Rockets were talking to James Harden, thinking about bringing him back after Ime Udoka was brought in. James Harden actually talked himself out of a max deal, because he went in there talking about how he wanted to return to being a scoring champion. And Ime Udoka and them were like, ‘Nah. We ain’t trying to have that here. We’re building ‘something a little bit different.’ Had he come in there and said the right things, they would have gave him a max, four-year deal.”
– Stephen A. Smith
Related: NBA Power Rankings – Ranking every team in the NBA as training camps open
The Houston Rockets had a top pick in this year’s NBA Draft and several underperforming former first-round picks on the roster, and they held on to all of them this offseason in the hope a veteran could come in and take them to another level. In the end, James Harden proved he wasn’t that type of veteran for them.
The future Hall-of-Famer was an All-Star every season he was in Houston, however, at 34 years old, still trying to be the top scorer in the league did not jive with the Rockets’ current direction with the former Boston Celtics head coach.