‘Unfinished business': Chris Paul on reuniting with former Rockets co-star James Harden

USA Today

20 hours ago

Six years after their reportedly acrimonious split as Rockets co-stars, Chris Paul and James Harden are teammates again with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Six years after what appeared to be an acrimonious ending to their time together with the Houston Rockets, legendary point guards James Harden and Chris Paul are NBA teammates again.
This time, it's with the Los Angeles Clippers, where Harden has played for the last two seasons and where Paul agreed to sign as a free agent this month.
At Paul's introductory press conference, he reflected on his time with Harden in Houston, including a viral clip that seemingly showed them arguing on the bench during the 2019 playoffs.
Paul's comments, as transcribed via Bleacher Report:
We talked about it, and talked about the history of being there in Houston. And it's funny, because that clip that goes around. ... It was a lot of stuff, funnier and stuff like that, than that. That was just sort of our relationship. But I think that's what made that team so good. We got on each other in different situations, but that team, I can honestly say, is one of the funnest teams I have ever been on in my career.
James is one of those guys that loves to be in the gym, all day long. And so it's wild, that you get that opportunity again. After those two years, and the success that we had, we definitely know we have unfinished business.
From a Houston perspective, Paul's two years with the Harden-led Rockets brought lots of winning but a painful series of 'what could have been' musings.
During Harden and Paul's first season together with the 2017-18 Rockets, Houston finished with a 65-17 record that remains the best in franchise history. They led the 2018 Western Conference finals over the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, 3-2, before losing the final two games and the series due in large part to Paul's ill-timed hamstring strain in the closing seconds of Game 5.
In 2018-19, and with a roster that lost key defenders such as Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute during the previous offseason, the Rockets (53-29) never quite recaptured the same form. Falling short of expectations may have contributed to the alleged friction between Harden and Paul, and the latter was shipped to Oklahoma City in the ensuing offseason as part of a controversial trade bringing Russell Westbrook to Houston.
A little over a year later, Harden himself asked for a trade, and Houston opted to reset and rebuild with young talent during the 2020-21 through 2022-23 seasons.
Now, six years after their split in Houston, the former All-Star guards are together again with the Clippers. With Paul now 40 years old, he's taken on more of a secondary role in recent seasons, which could perhaps make this reunion bid and its playing style a bit more to Harden's liking.
Led by newly acquired superstar Kevin Durant, Harden's former teammate in Oklahoma City and Brooklyn, the 2025-26 Rockets are widely viewed as being among the West favorites. With Paul and Harden joining forces again in Los Angeles, a potential Clippers-Rockets showdown in the 2026 playoffs would have no shortage of storylines.
Last season, Houston (52-30) finished No. 2 in the West, while Los Angeles (50-32) was two games back in the No. 5 spot. From there, both the Rockets and Clippers were then eliminated in competitive first-round playoff series that required all seven games to decide.
This offseason, each team is hoping that influential veteran acquisitions — such as Durant, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Clint Capela for the Rockets and Paul, Bradley Beal, and Brook Lopez for the Clippers — can help them level up during the season ahead.
More: Former Rockets James Harden, Chris Paul to reunite with Clippers