{"id":11164,"date":"2020-11-12T15:32:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T15:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/?p=11164"},"modified":"2020-12-04T12:00:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T12:00:20","slug":"houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden &#038; Russell Westbrook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg\" alt=\"James Harden and Russell Westbrook\" width=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-11165\" \/>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/rockets\/\">Houston Rockets<\/a> has made a number of key changes during the off-season and plan to make a few more before the new NBA season starts. The Rockets have seen their General Manager (GM) <strong>Daryl Morey<\/strong> and head coach <strong>Mike D\u2019Antoni<\/strong> depart and have replaced them with new head coach <strong>Stephen Silas<\/strong> and promoted <strong>Rafael Stone<\/strong> to the new GM post.  <\/p>\n<p>These big changes to the support staff have not gone down well with two of the key players in the Houston Rockets. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/nba-all-star-james-harden-connected-to-alleged-nightclub-brawl\/\">James Harden<\/a> and Russell Westbrook have been vocal about their concerns regarding the direction in which the Houston Rockets are going and have expressed doubts regarding their future with the rockets.<\/p>\n<p>This will be a concern for owner <strong>Tilman Fertitta<\/strong> since Harden has been a mainstay at the Rockets during the last 8 seasons. The Rockets have been trying to build a team around Harden and win an NBA Championship during the last 8 seasons but have continuously fallen short.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ESPN<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9XXjY1b951M?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0?ecver=2\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Rockets management are looking to make more changes and become a bigger force during the next season. Those changes are concerning to both Harden and Westbrook who joined the Rockets last summer. Rockets management consulted these two All-Stars before hiring <strong>Stephen Silas<\/strong> and got their okay before bringing him on board.<\/p>\n<p>It appears that the concern is over the upcoming decisions that the Rockets management is going to make. The Rockets know they need to get another All-Star working together with Harden and Westbrook to win an NBA Championship. They brought in <strong>Dwight Howard<\/strong> in 2013 and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/chris-paul-to-stay-rumours-of-fallout-with-james-harden\/\">Chris Paul<\/a><\/strong> in 2017 but the experiment did not work.<\/p>\n<p>Whoever they decide to go after needs to gel well with Harden and Westbrook or one or both of these players could pursue free agency.<\/p>\n<h2>Harden Keen To Finish With The Rockets<\/h2>\n<p>James Harden has said in the past that he hopes he can finish his career with the Houston Rockets. The 31 year old was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the league in 2017-2018 and has been nominated for the award on six different occasions. Harden has another three seasons with the Rockets on a $131.5 million contract.<\/p>\n<p>Westbrook also has three seasons remaining with the Rockets and is on a similar $131.5 million contract. Both players are keen to see the Rockets bring in someone who can help them achieve their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/sports-betting\/basketball\/nba\">goal of winning an NBA Championship next season<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets has made a number of key changes during the off-season and plan to make a few more before the new NBA season starts. The Rockets have seen their General Manager (GM) Daryl Morey and head coach Mike D\u2019Antoni depart and have replaced them with new head coach Stephen Silas and promoted Rafael [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-usa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden &amp; Russell Westbrook<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Houston Rockets has made a number of key changes during the off-season and plan to make a few more before the new NBA season starts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden &amp; Russell Westbrook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Houston Rockets has made a number of key changes during the off-season and plan to make a few more before the new NBA season starts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-12T15:32:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-04T12:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Landon Wheeler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Landon Wheeler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Landon Wheeler\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7735831f7fb7440b065c8376a41cf88d\"},\"headline\":\"Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden &#038; Russell Westbrook\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-12T15:32:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-04T12:00:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":409,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\",\"USA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden & Russell Westbrook\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-12T15:32:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-04T12:00:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7735831f7fb7440b065c8376a41cf88d\"},\"description\":\"The Houston Rockets has made a number of key changes during the off-season and plan to make a few more before the new NBA season starts.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg\",\"width\":380,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"James Harden and Russell Westbrook\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7735831f7fb7440b065c8376a41cf88d\",\"name\":\"Landon Wheeler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/46a3d81b7d342ca0efc5534703b4ff788fb760adae2a0a1be536a2b1a075d464?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/46a3d81b7d342ca0efc5534703b4ff788fb760adae2a0a1be536a2b1a075d464?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/46a3d81b7d342ca0efc5534703b4ff788fb760adae2a0a1be536a2b1a075d464?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Landon Wheeler\"},\"description\":\"All things casino related are what interests Landon, and having been involved in that industry for the last thirty years and having actually worked in several different roles in the casino industry he is definitely very well placed to keep you in the know in regards to what is happening in the casino industry as a whole.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/landon-wheeler\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden & Russell Westbrook","description":"The Houston Rockets has made a number of key changes during the off-season and plan to make a few more before the new NBA season starts.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden & Russell Westbrook","og_description":"The Houston Rockets has made a number of key changes during the off-season and plan to make a few more before the new NBA season starts.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/","article_published_time":"2020-11-12T15:32:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-04T12:00:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Landon Wheeler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Landon Wheeler","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/"},"author":{"name":"Landon Wheeler","@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7735831f7fb7440b065c8376a41cf88d"},"headline":"Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden &#038; Russell Westbrook","datePublished":"2020-11-12T15:32:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-04T12:00:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/"},"wordCount":409,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg","articleSection":["Sports","USA"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/","url":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/","name":"Rockets Could End Up Losing James Harden & Russell Westbrook","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg","datePublished":"2020-11-12T15:32:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-04T12:00:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7735831f7fb7440b065c8376a41cf88d"},"description":"The Houston Rockets has made a number of key changes during the off-season and plan to make a few more before the new NBA season starts.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/houston-rockets-could-end-up-losing-james-hardin-and-russell-westbrook\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/james-harden-and-russell-westbrook.jpg","width":380,"height":250,"caption":"James Harden and Russell Westbrook"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/","name":"","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7735831f7fb7440b065c8376a41cf88d","name":"Landon Wheeler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/46a3d81b7d342ca0efc5534703b4ff788fb760adae2a0a1be536a2b1a075d464?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/46a3d81b7d342ca0efc5534703b4ff788fb760adae2a0a1be536a2b1a075d464?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/46a3d81b7d342ca0efc5534703b4ff788fb760adae2a0a1be536a2b1a075d464?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","caption":"Landon Wheeler"},"description":"All things casino related are what interests Landon, and having been involved in that industry for the last thirty years and having actually worked in several different roles in the casino industry he is definitely very well placed to keep you in the know in regards to what is happening in the casino industry as a whole.","url":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/author\/landon-wheeler\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}