James Harden's reported preferred trade list is every Eastern Conference contender but the Celtics

The Celtics are thankfully the one Eastern Conference contender that Harden isn't eyeing

Earlier today the Miami Heat were added to James Harden's list of preferred trade destinations. And now the Athletic's Shams Charania is reporting that the Milwaukee Bucks have also been added to the list. So Harden's list are all of the top contending teams in the Eastern Conference minus one exception, the Boston Celtics. This is fine by me. We already dealt with the headache known as Kyrie Irving here and I much preferred last season's likable team. And unlike Gary Tanguay I have no desire to trade Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart in a package for His Hardenness. It's not just the diva attitude. It's his age, his contract, his defense or lack thereof. It's the stunting of Tatum's growth being relegated to playing off the ball with a ball dominant Harden. The Celtics keep adding players who have just concluded their primes. That's when you end up paying the most salary for players who get hurt more often, take longer to recover, and are stuck in their ways. Nah I'm all set with that. As I've written before, Ainge was wise to go the youth route. Where he messed up was getting impatient and trading that third Nets pick for Kyrie. Could have had Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Michael Porter Jr with that pick and then we'd likely be the clear cut favorite in the East.

If Ainge doesn't think Jaylen has star potential (and there's been no hint that Ainge isn't super high on Brown) and he wants to eventually trade him, then fine, but go for a younger star. No thanks to James Harden. Or more appropriately I should say thanks James Harden for excluding us from your list.

p.s. The Rockets are in a world of hurt by the way. Sam Presti fleeced them for all those future firsts in the Westbrook deal, so Houston NEEDS to get a solid return for Harden in any trade. Otherwise they will be looking at being a new version of the mid teens Nets, a bottom feeder who doesn't own any of their picks.

I'm told from a western source @Celtics actually did some research on James Harden to decide if they should pursue a trade discussion... They were strongly advised to keep away. The word on how things slipped apart in Houston didn't paint a lot of people in a very good light.

— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) November 19, 2020

Despite Harden not having interest in Boston and the Celtics reportedly not pursuing a trade we keep hearing whispers about how the Celtics have the best package for the Rockets. That's all fine and dandy. Thanks for the props to Jaylen Brown and his value national media, but leave Boston out of this.

p.s. Not all that privvy to all things Kardashian, but how many boyfriends or ex boyfriends of Khloe can one team have at a time?