Rockets' Ime Udoka Explains Fred VanVleet Contract over James Harden amid NBA Rumors

The Houston Rockets' oft-rumored pursuit of a James Harden reunion never appeared close to coming to fruition.

With the team expressing little interest in the days leading up to free agency, Harden instead shockingly opted into his $35.6 million player option with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Rockets inked Fred VanVleet to a three-year, $128.5 million contract.

While ESPN's Stephen A. Smith reported the Rockets were interested in pursuing Harden, new coach Ime Udoka stopped the pursuit in its tracks. Udoka pushed back on that assertion in an interview with ESPN's Zach Lowe.

"Nothing against James, but Fred is just a better fit," Udoka said. "I coached James in Brooklyn. He's one of the smartest players I've ever been around. The words 'Ime doesn't want James' never came out of my mouth. It was, 'Let's look at the best fit.' If we want Jalen and the young guys to take the next steps, we need them to have the ball. As for me saying I don't want James, that was never the case. It was about fit."

Udoka's point about fit is a little curious given VanVleet is a point guard who also spends most of the time playing with the ball in his hands. He's not quite the ball-stopper that Harden is, but VanVleet is also a fundamentally worse player in every offensive category and is a limited defender as well due to his size.

Between VanVleet and Dillion Brooks (four years, $86 million), the Rockets made arguably the two biggest overpays on this year's free-agent market.

It's fair to say signing Harden to the exact contract Houston gave VanVleet would have been a sounder move—albeit one that would have, as Udoka said, threatened the development of the team's young guards.

But VanVleet's presence will also take the ball out of the hands of Jalen Green and rookie Amen Thompson as is. So, in that sense, it's hard to buy the "best fit" narrative given Harden has coexisted with several high-profile point guards in his career (Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving).