The Rockets May Not Be Interested in LeBron James, And It Makes Sense

It has been reported that the biggest storyline in the NBA – where LeBron James plays next season – will end in one of four cities. There is now question if one of those destinations, Houston, even wants the services of LeBron.

On the SI‘s Open Floor podcast, Lee Jenkins stated that people in the Rockets’ organization have concerns about the possible addition of the future Hall of Famer:

"“I asked a couple people in Houston about it, and there was sort of a look of, ‘Why would we break this up right now?’ “Because they know everything they would have to give up. They know how many moves they would have to make. And would they be able to preserve the same level of shooting, the same level of defense? “And this is people inside the organization. How much would they have to sacrifice of what they built as far as the way they play? Would they’d have to play significantly differently?”"

While it remains a mystery how real the chances are he would pick Houston, if that was his choice, the Rockets have cause to consider turning in the other direction.

As great as LeBron is playing, the amount of shake-up his addition would cause the Rockets could actually be a detriment to the roster. In order to make this move work, the Rockets would likely have to lose several key parts of their 65-win team. This comes as they would also have to re-sign Chris Paul to a max contract this summer along with LeBron and James Harden.

This would greatly diminish the Rockets’ chances of adding a solid supporting cast and puts the long-term future of Clint Capela in jeopardy. Capela has emerged a force at center.

Houston should not only have concerns about breaking up their roster for LeBron due to cap-related issues, there also has to be a concern about the fit on the court. Paul and Harden have fit together better than anyone could have imagined, but adding a third ball-dominant superstar could complicate things greatly.

In addition, Harden has become one of the best players in the NBA and made a strong case to be the unanimous MVP this season; would he be okay with his team adding LeBron? Or more importantly, would this cause a divide in the locker room not knowing who the true Batman of the team is?

It will obviously be hard for the Rockets, or any team in the NBA, to say no to LeBron James, but there are, indeed, some questions if the Rockets should even want The King to take his talents to H-Town.