Two-time NBA champion and 11-time All-Star Chris Bosh doesn’t seem to be concerned about the fit of James Harden and newly acquired guard Russell Westbrook with the Houston Rockets.
When asked Friday on Fox Sports 1’s First Things First about which offseason NBA moves surprised him most, Bosh said:
Russ going to Houston [surprised me]… and them being able to pull off that trade.
Host Nick Wright then asked Bosh, now 35 years old, whether he thinks the Harden and Westbrook pairing will work. Bosh responded with a smile and laugh:
Yeah. You know, it’s funny when people say ‘Oh man, is it going to work? Is it not going to work?’ Look, two MVPs? I’m going to take it, and we’ll figure it out later.
Westbrook was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2017 after tallying 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game. That made Westbrook the first NBA player to average a triple-double since Oscar Robertson in the 1961-62 season, and he went on to post triple-double averages in the next two seasons, too.
Meanwhile, Harden won the MVP award in 2018 and finished second in 2019 voting after averaging a career-high 36.1 points per game last season, along with 7.5 assists, and 6.6 rebounds.
Long respected around the NBA for his basketball intellect, Bosh’s career was cut short by a blood clotting condition that the league ruled in 2017 to be a career-ending illness. In 13 NBA seasons with the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat, the 6-foot-11 big man averaged 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds in 35.8 minutes per game.
Bosh nearly signed with the Rockets in July 2014 free agency before choosing to re-sign with the Heat.
