KEY POINTS

  • The Houston Rockets made another multi-player trade deal this season
  • Kendrick Perkins expressed disappointment over the Rockets' decision to trade away a star they acquired from the James Harden deal
  • Harden has become arguably a much better player with the Brooklyn Nets

The Houston Rockets might not have been making wise moves recently, an NBA champ has suggested.

In a last-minute trade deadline day deal, the Rockets finalized a trade that sent Victor Oladipo to the Miami Heat. In exchange, the Heat sent Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and a 2022 draft pick to Houston, NBA’s official website confirmed.

It can be recalled that Oladipo was traded to the Rockets earlier this year as part of the massive three-team deal that sent James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets. While it is yet to be determined whether Houston entered a terrible agreement in dealing Oladipo to the Heat, NBA champ Kendrick Perkins has already suggested that the team messed up by letting all the players it acquired from Harden’s departure go.

“So the Houston Rockets basically got nothing in return for James Harden huh?! SMH,” Perkins wrote on Twitter.

Oladipo is one of the most versatile guards in today’s NBA. However, a knee injury in 2019 has limited his playing time, and he featured in only 20 games with the Rockets after being traded from the Indiana Pacers.

To date, the two-time NBA All-Star averages 21.2 points, five rebounds and five assists per game.

Harden, on the other hand, appears to have started anew with the Nets. The 2018 NBA MVP has significantly improved in almost all categories of his game. This season, Harden is averaging an impressive 25 points, almost 12 assists and nine rebounds per game.

James Harden
James Harden scored 44 points and 15 assists as the Rockets beat the Warriors in overtime. In this picture, Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets plays the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, Nov. 13, 2018. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

It didn’t take long for Harden to make his mark in Brooklyn. Despite being only in his first season as a Net, “The Beard” shockingly proved that he can efficiently play the role of a playmaker for his new team.

Further, Harden also managed to maintain his lethal scoring, prompting NBA legend and ESPN’s Charles Barkley to make a bold claim about his game.

According to Barkley, Harden “might be” the best basketball player in the world today, possibly even better than the late Kobe Bryant and six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan.

“Right now, no disrespect to LeBron [James] or Giannis [Antetokounmpo] or anybody but James Harden might be the best basketball player in the world. Period,” Barkley recently said on ESPN.

“Kobe [Bryant] and [Michael] Jordan were better players from a [shooting] guard standpoint, but as far as offensively, they couldn’t shoot 3s like him," he added. "[And] Every time he goes to the basket, he’s going to hit somebody and get two free throws.”

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