Six years after a reportedly bitter conclusion to their Houston era, James Harden and Chris Paul are back together with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Six years after a reportedly 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 Clippers. On Monday, Paul agreed to sign a one-year contract with Los Angeles to potentially conclude his Hall of Fame career. Prior to joining the Rockets in the 2017 offseason, “CP3” had played his previous six seasons with the Clippers, making this a reunion on multiple fronts.
From a Houston perspective, Paul’s two years with the Harden-led Rockets brought lots of winning but a painful series of what-if 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 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 Kevin Durant, a former teammate of Harden’s 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 juicy storylines.