The James Harden, Rockets impending divorce isn’t a surprise, but it’s sad

The James Harden era will end not with a Mike Breen “BANG” but a whimper of “This situation is crazy.”

That’s what the Houston Rockets superstar said to reporters on Tuesday night, telling the world he doesn’t think his relationship with the franchise can be fixed before walking off without taking questions.

It was obvious that this was where all the offseason drama was headed, so it’s no surprise that Harden is making his dissatisfaction public.

I wrote back on New Year’s Day that the John Wall and Harden Rockets could be good if Harden wanted to stick around. Since then, the team has lost four of five including two against the Los Angeles Lakers. Harden wasn’t even the leading scorer in any of those games (Christian Wood, btw, is really good!). So it’s clear that it’s all over for the Harden-era Rockets.

And that just stinks. A lot.

Ever since the Rockets made an all-time steal of a trade for Harden with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012, we’ve watched Harden blossom into one of the greatest scorers in NBA history (did you know he’s 41st all time right now? And that he’s only 31?), destroying defenders with an array of unstoppable step-back threes, drives to the hoop, passes in traffic, Eurosteps … it’s magic. Every night.

He’s carried the Rockets to two Western Conference Finals only to lose to the juggernaut Golden State Warriors, and there was always this hope — at least for me — that we’d see just one ring on his finger, proving critics of his iso-heavy style of play very wrong. Alas.

Wherever he goes next — the 76ers? The Nets? The Heat? — it’s clear he’ll have to adjust. He might have another superstar to play with, which increases his odds of a title by a lot. It probably means scrapping what makes him so special with the Rockets. Sure, that could make him more efficient and effective.

But even if it’s premature to say our goodbyes now to him in Houston and imagine him elsewhere, it’s clear it’s time.