Going back to the NBA season, the Houston Rockets have been a rumored destination for James Harden in free agency, but the Rockets are now rumored to be out of the running for Harden ahead of free agency opening on Friday, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic.

“In recent days I've understood that Houston is no longer an option for James,” Iko said in a livestream. “I would call them out of the running. From the Rockets' perspective, that makes sense considering James was never interested in taking any kind of discount.”

Iko spoke about new Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse meeting with James Harden and selling him on his plan for the 76ers' offense. Iko says that Nick Nurse met with Harden in Houst after meeting with Danuel House Jr., who opted into his contract with the 76ers.

“From that meeting I'm told that James was pretty on board with everything that Nick Nurse was saying in terms of trying new ways to optimize him, trying new ways to kind of re-vamp or re-tool that Philadelphia 76ers offense where we saw in that second half collapse and the series overall, their offense was kind of bland,” Iko said on a livestream.

It will be interesting to see what Harden and the Rockets do in free agency. It seems that a reunion between the two is not in the cards. However, it is not a given that Harden returns to Philadelphia, even if he does not sign with the Rockets in free agency.