Rockets’ John Wall Taunts James Harden for Not Having His Heart in the Game Against Lakers

This is just not the year for the Houston Rockets. Firstly, there was the James Harden fiasco that went on throughout the offseason and the beginning of training camp. And now, it seems like they aren’t the same dominant Houston team we know. They are at the bottom of the West, with underrated teams like the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings ahead of them. However, John Wall seems to know the problem behind this.

Crushing defeat at the hands of the Lakers

Harden came up big when the season started, but Houston started slipping back after. They are holding a terrible 3-6 record and just suffered a humiliating 117-100 defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers. This came after LeBron scored 26 points against a team that was trailing almost throughout the game.

In fact, by halftime, the purple and gold had 70 points on the scoreboard. Even Anthony Davis finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, in their second consecutive blowout win against Houston.

The Rockets made a huge trade by bringing in John Wall in place of Russell Westbrook this offseason. Another new addition, Christian Wood, is also playing some great basketball. But it just doesn’t seem to be enough. Why is that?

James Harden not giving it his all

After the loss, Harden couldn’t stop himself from making certain negative remarks about his team. He stated that they were “not good enough” and that their issues couldn’t be fixed.

Harden actually showed a lot of resistance in playing this season with Houston. He wanted to be traded off to the Brooklyn Nets, or any team for that matter, as long as he didn’t have to stay with the Rockets. However, the Rockets showed no signs of fulfilling his demands until they received a good enough deal for him.

This led to Harden not showing up for training camp, which had the NBA fired up. With no option but to join the team, Harden came back, but his performance showed that his heart wasn’t in the game anymore. John Wall couldn’t help but speak his mind on this matter after losing to the Lakers.

Wall stated, “When you have certain guys that don’t want to buy in, it’s hard.” This seems like a subtle dig at Harden, who blamed the Rockets’ poor run of form on the rest of the team. It looks like the Rockets team is in a huge mess and keeping Harden unwillingly won’t help. Will the Rockets give in to this behavior or will they still hold off a trade for as long as possible?