Boston Celtics: Pros and cons of trading for James Harden

Cons

As great as James Harden is, boy oh boy is he a headache, if recent reports about his preferential treatment is any indication:

"The Houston Rockets’ culture in the James Harden era, which bridges two owners and now four head coaches, might be best summed up by a former staffer’s three words: “Whatever James wants.” Unless they were on the front end of a back-to-back set, it was essentially a sure thing that the Rockets stayed overnight — or even an extra day — after games in Los Angeles, Phoenix and other road cities that rank among Harden’s favorite stops. If the Rockets had two or three days between games, it was a good bet Harden would call for an off day and charter a private jet to party in Las Vegas or another city. He always gets an excused absence from the first practice after the All-Star break for the same reason."

That’s not the kind of ingredient this current Boston Celtics core needs in the slightest…especially if it comes at the expense of Jaylen Brown–arguably the team’s second best player. A Harden-Brown-Tatum trio is a championship contender in theory, but the odds are that it would be a championship or bust scenario…and a lack of a championship could very well cause a full-on mutinty in Beantown.

Verdict: The cons outweigh the pros. Pass.