James Harden Denies Rumors He Wanted to Join Rockets to Become NBA Scoring Champion

James Harden won three consecutive scoring titles when he was a member of the Houston Rockets from 2017 through 2020, but he pushed back at the narrative he was thinking about a return to such a style when his basketball future was up in the air this offseason.

Sam Amick of The Athletic asked Harden if there was any truth to the suggestion he told Houston he "wanted to go back to being a scoring champ and to go back to being the guy who played that Rockets style basketball, and that it was a turnoff that led to them changing their minds."

The guard brushed that off and pointed to his transition into more of a facilitator in recent years:

"Where is the personnel for that on that team? And in the last three or four years, what have I been trying to accomplish (in terms of playmaking)?

"You can answer that for yourself. Now the meeting was had, and those conversations about style of play, how I've been playing and things like that (took place). But (the idea of) me going out there and averaging 30-something points a game—who wants to do that?"

It is hard to argue with Harden's insistence that he has changed his approach from the score-first player he was during his time in Houston.

He averaged 33.7 points to 7.9 assists per game during the three seasons he led the league in scoring. Since then he has averaged 21.8 points to 10.2 assists per game and led the league at 10.7 assists a night just last season.

Yet there was no shortage of speculation that Harden would return to the Rockets this past offseason, which would have been a somewhat questionable move in terms of championship pursuit given Philadelphia's status as a contender and Houston's as a team that hadn't been to the playoffs since his departure.

Harden was ultimately traded to the Los Angeles Clippers but only after he opted into his $35.6 million player option instead of becoming a free agent.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported last month that he opted into that option and then requested a trade because he believed 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey was going to offer him just a two-year deal with a team option instead of a longer extension.

The report also noted Harden grew frustrated when the trade didn't happen quickly, although he was eventually moved to a presumed contender in the Clippers.

Harden also told Amick that Morey and the 76ers said a max contract was eventually coming but he sensed that was not going to be the case. That led him down the path of opting into his contract and requesting the trade.

Now he is on a Clippers team where his recent focus on facilitating is ideal since he is playing with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. He is still searching for the first championship of his career, and it likely won't come if he commands too much of the ball like he did in Houston.

To hear him tell it, he's not looking to score 30 points a night anyway.