According to The Athletic, the LA Clippers reportedly inquired about a trade involving James Harden before making a deal for Paul George.
Before the LA Clippers made their surprising deal for Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George, they reportedly had interest in dealing for another one of the 2019 MVP Finalists: James Harden.
According to The Athletic (subscription required), the Clippers targeted Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal and Houston Rockets guard James Harden as potential players to pair up with Kawhi Leonard. However, neither was available.
The news about Beal isn’t exactly new. There were reports of his pursuit almost all season long, as his placement on the current Wizards squad isn’t doing much good for either party involved. What is new here, though, is the idea that the Clippers had interest in bringing Harden to Los Angeles.
It’s not hard to think of a reason why the Clippers would do it. After all, Harden is a back-to-back scoring champion, and is fresh off a season in which he averaged a career-high 36.1 points per game. He’s among the very best players in basketball today, and his ability to carry the load on offense would have made things easier for Leonard to recover and continue to load manage.
Instead of pairing Leonard with George and creating arguably the strongest defensive team in the league, the Clippers could have had Harden and Leonard, perhaps the two best offensive and defensive players, respectively. That would have made for a very different looking — and performing — team.
Considering the Clippers had to give up so much to land George (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five future first-round picks and two pick swaps), the package that delivered Harden likely would have been just as massive, if not larger.
But the Houston Rockets were clearly interested in remaining competitive right now, and any package the Clippers could have offered wouldn’t have provided enough firepower to make up for what Harden brings to the table.
It’s not that the Rockets weren’t looking to trade a star and break things up this summer — after all, they did send Chris Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook — they just didn’t want Harden to be the guy they were shipping out.
A Harden deal would have greatly changed the landscape of the NBA. But considering who the Clippers did end up making a trade for, that landscape is shaken enough. Leonard got his guy in George, and Harden will get the chance to play with Westbrook, his former teammate from the early days of the Oklahoma City Thunder.