James Harden Reportedly Told Mike D’Antoni During Last Year’s Playoffs That Team Needed To Trade Chris Paul

James Harden reportedly told Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni team needed to trade Chris Paul

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James Harden and Chris Paul played together for two seasons with the Houston Rockets, with the team showing they had championship ability, but some unlucky breaks. While Harden and Paul did lead the Rockets to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in 2018, a Paul injury with the team leading 3-2 in the Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors all but did them in.

The following season was successful, but still ended without a championship, leading the front office exploring trades that included Chris Paul. It’s why they shipped him to Oklahoma City in the offseason for Russell Westbrook, just to bring in new, younger blood and see if a new core could get it done.

Well, that was the thought.

Apparently, James Harden may have sealed CP3’s fate well before the offseason, as a new report suggests the 2017-18 league MVP told Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni that the team needed to “get Chris out of here” during a playoff series last season. That’s according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, who detailed things to Zach Lowe on his podcast.

Spears: “The one thing that I heard, which I will say this, because I have to preface it, that I have to see to believe, but from one rumor – I’ve got to put exclamation point before I say it, right? I don’t know this is fact. But I was told that James ran up to Coach D’Antoni and put his hand over his mic – because D’Antoni was mic’d – and told him, “We’ve got to get Chris out of here.”

ESPN’s Zach Lowe: “Out of the game?”

Spears: “No.”

Lowe: “Out of here here?”

Spears: “Out of here here.”

That’s some serious drama and allegations. If true, that’s some dirty shit from James Harden.

It kind of makes sense, though, when hearing what Paul said his reaction was to being traded to OKC.

Per The Undefeated:

“My initial reaction?” Paul said with a laugh, via The Undefeated. “I was shocked. Truth be told, I just talked to Daryl a couple days before the trade and he said he wasn’t going to trade me [to Oklahoma City]. That’s funny because that is going to be the alert that pops up on everybody’s phone because nobody knows that. But what the hell, I just said it.

“I’m just grateful to be hooping. … It could be a lot worse.”

The James Harden-Chris Paul pairing was always pretty tense because of their styles of play on the court and mega egos. So none of this is probably a shock, but, still, Harden openly hoping for a Paul trade during a playoff game is pretty damn ruthless.

(H/T Clutch Points)