On Thursday, the NBA announced its schedule for the 2024-25 regular season.
Even though the year won’t start for more than a month, the Houston Rockets were able to learn a few things about their upcoming campaign with the release of the schedule on Thursday.
In addition to playing a league-high 16 straight games and only playing three games on major television networks, the schedule also revealed that the former Rockets superstar James Harden will return to Houston for two games early in the season when the Clippers face the Rockets.
On Wednesday, Nov. 13 and Friday, Nov. 15, less than a month into the 2024-25 season, Harden and the Clippers will face the Rockets in a baseball-style series in Houston.
Harden is expected to receive a warm welcome from Rockets fans after playing most of his career in Houston. The future Hall of Fame point guard reached his highest level of success while playing for the Rockets, making Harden’s return even more anticipated.
In nine seasons with the Rockets, Harden averaged 29.6 points, 7.7 assists, six rebounds and 1.8 steals per game while being an All-Star every year, winning the MVP award in 2018 and leading Houston to the Western Conference Finals.
Harden arrived at the Rockets in October 2012 as the centerpiece of a trade with Oklahoma City that sent Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and several draft picks from the Thunder in exchange for Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan’s Cook And Lazar Hayward.
While the Clippers’ record will certainly take a hit this season after losing Paul George During the offseason, Los Angeles should still be a competitive team in the Western Conference led by Harden, Kawhi Leonard and a cast of solid role players.
However, if the Clippers are still healthy entering the season, their two matchups in Houston should be entertaining contests that could have implications for the playoff standings in the West.
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