James Harden reportedly had enough of playing with Chris Paul on the Houston Rockets and is thrilled CP3 is gone and Russell Westbrook is on his way to Houston.
According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, Harden was the driving force behind shipping Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Westbrook.
“James made this [expletive] happen,” a league source told Yahoo Sports. “He wanted Chris up out of there.”
After the Rockets lost to the Golden State Warriors in the second round of the 2019 playoffs, multiple reports stated James Harden and Chris Paul weren't on the same page and had verbal back-and-forths. Paul supposedly wanted more ball movement on offense, while Harden was content with playing the iso-heavy game head coach Mike D'Antoni lets him play.
As we all know, Paul is not an easy guy to play or get along with. He had issues with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan on the Los Angeles Clippers. Los Angeles Lakers guard Rajon Rondo said earlier this past season Paul is the worst teammate of all-time and guys don't like him.
The Rockets are just happy they were able to rid themselves of Paul's hefty contract. Sure, Westbrook has a lot of money coming his way over the next four years, but Russ is a former MVP who has averaged a triple-double three years in a row. He's a much better player and teammate than Paul.