For much of last season, numerous reports said that James Harden was angling for a return to the Houston Rockets.
Despite the success of his Philadelphia 76ers, Harden apparently wanted to head back down to Texas and try his hand at leading the Rockets again.
But apparently, the team’s new head coach, Ime Udoka, wasn’t on board with that plan.
According to Steve Bulpett, via NBACentral, Udoka had “zero interest” in coaching Harden.
“Ime said, ‘It’s not going to work here,'” Bulpett’s report stated.
Ime Udoka reportedly had zero interest in coaching James Harden, per @SteveBHoop
“Ime said, ‘It’s not going to work here.’” pic.twitter.com/Nx9YvTLwhr
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) July 7, 2023
There were many questions about a possible Harden return to Houston.
Firstly, why did Harden want to come back to a team that is currently so far away from any real postseason success?
Secondly, how would he fit in alongside a young core that still hasn’t really proven itself?
Despite those questions, Houston was apparently interested in landing Harden.
But when they hired Udoka, Houston’s chance of getting him may have vanished.
During his single year coaching the Boston Celtics, Udoka emphasized defense and ball movement, creating a lightning-fast rotation that had the ball moving from player to player in the blink of an eye.
That certainly doesn’t sound like something Harden would work well with.
It’s not entirely clear why Udoka was sour on the concept of Harden playing for the Rockets.
Maybe it was his insistence on iso ball or his troubles in the postseason but the coach didn’t think that Harden was a good fit.
In the end, the Rockets dropped their pursuit of him and instead elected to sign multiple other players, including Fred VanVleet from the Toronto Raptors and Dillon Brooks of the Memphis Grizzlies.
As for Harden, he is still looking for a new team to call his own.
NEXT: The Rockets Have Spent Some Serious Money On 2 Free Agents
