NBA GMs "Afraid" of Trading for James Harden

The James Harden saga is already taking too long to reach its climax and according to observers, the one person that has been making the situation difficult especially for the Houston Rockets is James Harden himself. 

The 2020-2021 National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season is already rolling and the Houston Rockets have yet to solve the James Harden puzzle. To begin with, the Rockets' first game of the new season against the Oklahoma City Thunder was postponed as their latest 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) tests showed three players testing either positive or the results were inconclusive. Four others were ruled out for contract tracing purposes while James Harden has been slapped with a 50,000-US Dollar fine after violating health and safety protocols. 

Meanwhile, James Harden added more teams to his list of preferred teams to be traded to which now include the Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers. And just last week, the Miami Heat, one of the teams who were initially involved in the trade discussions involving Harden, have already taken themselves out of the picture as Houston reportedly wanted a number of draft picks and a promising young star for the 2018 Most Valuable Player (MVP). The question is this: What makes James Harden difficult to trade for?

Kendrick Perkins has a thought: NBA general managers are "afraid" of pulling the trigger in a potential trade primarily because of Harden's off-court activities which included numerous trips to strip clubs and even Las Vegas. While Harden's off-court activities haven't impacted his performance on the basketball court, Harden's nightlife has become a major concern for GMs to have second thoughts on trading for a high-caliber player such as Harden. "It has nothing to do with what he does on the court, but it’s his activities off the court. They are saying that if they trade him that he’s going to be a bad example in the locker room because of things like this," Perkins said. 

The Rockets still have the keys to the James Harden saga but for them to get the best deal out of a Harden trade, change needs to happen and that change should start from James Harden himself. Otherwise, Houston will have a problem in finding a trade partner. 

Photo is from CBS Sports