ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins dropped another bombshell revelation on Friday, claiming he knows what truly went behind the scenes of the Rockets' James Harden-Russell Westbrook breakup before the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
According to the retired NBA player, it was The Beard's non-stop partying throughout the season that ticked off Westbrook and led to his trade request after just one year with the Houston Rockets.
Perk dished out the juicy details on James Posey's the Posecast (via Alex Kennedy of BasketballNews). Here's the full clip:
.@KendrickPerkins says James Harden's partying led to Russell Westbrook's trade request.
"[If they had some days off], James was on a private [jet] to Cabo! On Tilman Fertitta's private [jet] at that! Russ is like… 'I ain't with all the partying.'"
🎧: https://t.co/QEROFRt8Rj pic.twitter.com/gKh5EMRgTi
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) January 16, 2021
James Harden's lifestyle off the court, of course, has long been documented for most of his career. While what he does in his leisure time is purely his business, it becomes problematic to do so when an NBA season is underway. Russell Westbrook, on the other hand, is a fearsome competitor.
As far as Perkins is concerned, Brodie was taken aback at how Harden likes to run things in H-Town. The Westbrook-Harden reunion last year had its moments and the Rockets still finished fourth in the West (44-28) despite the supposed turmoil between the two superstars. But Houston crashed and burned in the second round of the 2020 playoffs against eventual champions Los Angeles Lakers.
Westbrook has since been moved to the Washington Wizards for John Wall. A few months after that, Harden's wish to join the start-studded Brooklyn Nets squad also came to fruition. It's futile to look back now how good the two former MVPs would have been together with the Rockets if they gave it another go this year. Still, that Harden-Westbrook duo was fun to while it lasted.
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