houston-rockets Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Hakeem Olajuwon charges $50K to teach what cannot be taught — good for him
One of the best/least consequential storylines in all of sports is of the big man who goes to Hakeem Olajuwon’s Dream Shake academy to learn one of the most lethal, and unteachable, moves in the history of the NBA. At $50,000 a session, it’s as close to a Ponzi scheme as you’re going to get without ...
Houston Rockets abandoning decency by trying to trade Kevin Porter Jr.
Stadium’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday that the Houston Rockets are looking to trade Kevin Porter Jr. The Rockets are even ready to send several second-round draft picks along with him. In return, Houston is reportedly looking for a player who can “play immediately.”...
Kevin Porter Jr. dodged accountability for far too long
The arrest of Kevin Porter Jr. on charges of felony assault and strangulation related to the beating of his girlfriend Kysre Gondrezic early Monday at the Millenium Hilton in Manhattan. was the last straw for the soon-to-be-former Houston Rocket. Prosecutors say Porter punched Gondrezick with an ope...
The bubble is bursting on NBA draft picks
A rather innocuous roster move by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday could foretell the future for teams loaded with future draft picks. The Thunder waived TyTy Washington Jr., the 29th pick of the 2022 NBA Draft who played his first season with the Houston Rockets. Both the Rockets and Thunder hav...
![James Harden's Daryl Morey comments will cost him $100k [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/d3847cc53204d78a7eaacfe79e6981f5.jpg)
James Harden's Daryl Morey comments will cost him $100k [Updated]
Update Aug. 22: The NBA announced it would fine Harden $100,000 for indicating that he would not perform the services called for under his player contract unless traded to another team. Since Harden referred to Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey as a liar and essentially threatened to sit out ...
NBA needs to up the ante with its international game slate
What happens when a seventh seed and a 13th seed meet on a basketball court in a country that doesn’t have an NBA franchise? Who knows, but we’re going to find out....
Dillon Brooks has got to be kidding
Making it to any professional sport and sticking around for a considerable amount of time requires a certain level of talent, dedication, and confidence in oneself. We often see players pump themselves up, making proclamations of being the best, although others don’t view them in that same light. Th...
John Wall’s talents on display in Las Vegas
After a short stint in Los Angeles with the Clippers last season, John Wall was traded to his former team, the Houston Rockets, then released a few days later. Now Wall is a free agent and holding a private workout for teams in Las Vegas Sunday in hopes of sparking interest and signing with someone ...
The Rockets have become the NBA’s most polarizing team
The Houston Rockets have been stuck in zero gravity since their post-Harden rebuild began two years ago. Despite their lottery successes they still have no direction. The Rockets lit the fuse this summer expecting a controlled explosion and witnessed the creation of the NBA’s most opulent sparkler....
Damian Lillard and James Harden need to exchange travel plans
The two superstars residing on the NBA’s bustling trade block have their bags packed. Damian Lillard has been hinting at Miami as his preference for weeks while the mutual interest between Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers is hard not to notice. Check back in a year and Harden may change his mind ...
Hey, at least the Houston Rockets are trying
We laughed at Dillon Brooks’ unceremonious exit from the Memphis Grizzlies, but it will be him with the cheshire grin plastered to his face every time that a direct deposit hits his account. On Saturday he signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the Houston Rockets. The day before, Fred VanVle...
The Reggie Evans Bad Basketball Basketball Hall of Fame 2023 inductees
Studies have shown that negative news garners more of the public’s attention than positive news, so with that knowledge, I propose an alternative to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The Basketball Hall of Fame has the prestige, but it doesn’t generate as much conversation as Twitter ramblings f...
The Rockets are the NBA’s most ambitious offseason franchise
After the Denver Nuggets championship parade, it will be the Rockets time to shine. The Houston Rockets’ ‘Light the fuse” mantra has encapsulated their offseason machinations since Jalen Green’s bold IG Live set the tone for the summer by vowing to reach the postseason in 2024. That’s easier said th...
James Harden wants to escape the NBA title rat race
In his prime, James Harden was the star of the show. His ball dominance was unparalleled. Harden’s expression of basketball is a sublime experience. His ball handling and passing artistry are one of a kind. During his penultimate season in Houston, Harden’s 40.3 usage rate in 2018-19 nearly set an N...
James Harden actually rose to the occasion with Joel Embiid out
James Harden deserved to take a bow on Monday night, even if he decided to wait until he put back on his enormous pants to do so. In a game in which the Philadelphia 76ers were undermanned with their MVP candidate dealing an injury more serious than what was first made public knowledge, Harden was t...
The James Harden and Houston Rockets reunion is a pie-in-the-sky dream
James Harden is a deeply unserious franchise cornerstone. However, in the midst of a pivotal, legacy-defining season for his career, Harden may be eyeing a return in free agency to the Rockets franchise he forced his way out of two years ago, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. ...
Some day, not now, Jabari Smith Jr. will know what it’s like to have a true point guard
For as much tanking and general thirst that the top three picks of the 2022 NBA Draft garnered, they haven’t merited that attention quite yet. In Chet Holmgren’s case, it’s impossible because he’s out for the season. Paolo Banchero is going to win Rookie of the Year, and little else on an Orlando Ma...
A decade after the Thunder traded James Harden, regret should linger
A decade after Oklahoma City traded James Harden on the eve of the 2012-13 regular season, it still stands as an atrocity upon the art of dynasty-building. As the central players involved in that deal wind down their Hall of Fame careers in bleak situations, there is no more denying it, Oklahoma Cit...
Ten players that teams in the 'Lose-O-Rama for Wembanyama' should ship
After the matchup between Victor Wembanyama’s Metropolitans and Scoot Henderson’s G League Ignite teams earlier this month, where the projected No. 1 and No. 2 picks faced off in must-see-TV, half the NBA should have shifted into full-on tank mode. Why meddle in mediocrity if you’re the Orlando Magi...
The NBA’s tanking problem is more perception than reality, and a relegation system won’t fix that
During NBA Commish Adam Silver’s apology tour session with beleaguered Phoenix Suns employees this weekend, he was confronted with another concern. In addition to apologizing for suspended team Governor Robert Sarver and his decades of misconduct, Silver was also besieged by a flood of questions abo...