West Rival Could See Success with Former Rockets’ Stars

The Houston Rockets have primed themselves this offseason to be one of the top contenders in the NBA. 

The team nabbed one of the best players in the league in Kevin Durant via trade, managed to re-sign plenty of valuable contributors and inked rotational-level players in free agency. With an already stacked core of Alperen Sengun, Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson and plenty more, it seems they’ve cemented themselves as a top team in the league.

But Houston’s ascent in the NBA certainly won’t be easy, and that starts in the West. The reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder currently stand between the league and a title, and the rest of the Western Conference certainly offers no cakewalk. 

Other West contenders include the Nuggets, Timberwolves and Clippers.

LA is a new addition to the list, in the last few weeks having added two aging stars that could offer boom or bust potential in the twilight of their careers. Still, on-paper, the Clippers seem good enough to compete at the highest level.

One of those aging stars is Chris Paul, who seems set to play his final NBA season in a return to LA. The now-40-year-old played arguably the best basketball of his career with “Lob City” in Los Angeles, and will likely relish a reunion with retirement on the horizon.

The eventual Hall-of-Famer also played two seasons with Houston, and now links up again with former Rockets’ MVP James Harden. 

Alongside two-time champ Kawhi Leonard, Harden has helped LA stay competitive in the West, and is now joined by Paul as well as Bradley Beal in hopes of making a deep postseason run. Harden has mostly maintained his status as one of the NBA’s top scorers and play-makers, though he no longer plays at his former MVP-level.

Harden and CP3’s time with the Rockets was mostly successful, with the team making the Western Conference Finals and second round across two seasons. While they lost to all-time Golden State Warriors teams in both seasons, they still managed some of the best Rockets’ ball in some time.

While Rockets’ might be secondarily rooting for the Clippers to success this season, their own team should similarly be in the hunt for an NBA title.