James Harden has been linked with plenty of teams in recent times, as the Houston Rockets superstar requested a trade from the team and ever since that, his name has been circling around the league and he’s apparently identified his preferred destination.
Harden reportedly wanted to join the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers this season but now the player has expanded his options now, adding two more teams to his list of destinations. One of those is the Portland Trail Blazers, a team that has big expectations for this campaign.
This could be something good for the Blazers and it seems like their best player, Damian Lillard, is interested in teaming up with Harden in H-Town. The point guard is thought to be recruiting James Harden to join him in Portland.
Damian Lillard might be actively recruiting James Harden to Portland
Mike Richmann, host of the Locked On Blazers Podcast, explained that Lillard might be active in recruiting players than we think. Recently, we learned that he was planning to team up with Giannis in Portland before the Greek player re-signed with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Richmann believes this is exactly what is happening with Harden now, which is why he’s listed the Trail Blazers on his list of potential destinations.
Mike Richman: What I think is actually like the big deal that is sort of hiding under the headlines is that means Damian Lillard has changed his approach a little bit, between James Harden expanding his list of preferable acceptable destinations and… Damian Lillard doing some light recruiting on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Those two things make me think that for the first time in his career Damian Lillard is recruiting active stars to join him. I’m not saying that Lillard is driving the bus and saying, James, get traded here, I’ll get rid of everybody for you. But I have no doubt they have spoken because why would James Harden include the list without speaking with Dame first, right?
Damian Lillard is 30 years old. He’s entering season number nine in the NBA and he gets it. He knows that to win an NBA title his ultimate goal, you need two top 10 players on your team… Basically, the last 15 championships have been won by teams that have at least two top 10 players. It’s the route forward, the Blazers neither have two top 10 players or the collection of high-end talent like that 2019 Raptors team, who also got some good injury luck around what happened with the Warriors. Damian Lillard has seen that and he knows the deal, so he has changed his approach. He is now actively courting players in my opinion.
The Trail Blazers could use Harden this season. They already showed they could figure things out last season when they signed Carmelo Anthony but this situation is different. Of course, Harden would have to adapt to the team but this is a destination that could bring a lot of benefits for the Blazers.
