OKC Thunder TIP3: Harden MVP chase, LeBron Rockets rumors, CP3 injury history

TI Q3 – LeBron James

There are so many natural ties between the Rockets and Thunder players. The obvious one is Harden being the former Thunder player who was traded to Houston. Harden and Westbrook remain good friends. Although Patrick Beverley is no longer with the Rockets, it was his hit to Westbrook which resulted in his first (ever) missed games and injury.

Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony are part of the infamous banana boat crew (although Melo is grouped in with that quartet he wasn’t on the boat). That group is CP3, Dwyane Wade, LeBron and Melo).

For the better part of last season Carmelo Anthony was engaged in a tug of war battle with Phil Jackson. When Melo eventually acquiesced on his no trade clause the short list included two teams (Cleveland, Houston), got cut to just Houston and eventually his landing spot-OKC.

Is  LeBron James up to his familiar habits?

Tying in to these final two components of the equation, Ian Begley recently reported Anthony let it slip there was a deal done for him to go to Houston. Ultimately it fell through, but the more interesting takeaway from this news was the tidbit LeBron James was part of the equation. Extrapolating from the article Begley tells of Anthony outing the fact CP3, LeBron and Melo intended on all landing in Houston and even discussed how the team would handle the Golden State Warriors.

Let’s ignore the fact, this once again speaks to LeBron James collusion and concentrate on the semantics.  Assuming the trio (and heck why wouldn’t DWade also be part of this conversation) plan to move forward this summer the Houston Rockets could be the desired landing spot for the banana boat quartet.

Presuming Morey could even find a financial way to make it work, are you buying into this occurring in the summer of 2018?