Shortly after the Clippers agreed to trade Chris Paul to the Rockets in late June in a move that stunned a lot of NBA fans, people started to wonder what a team featuring CP3 and James Harden would look like. Both players like to have the ball in their hands more often than not. So what’s going to happen when they’re both on the court at the same time playing for the same team? Will they pose a serious threat to the Warriors—or will their union prove to be a huge fail?
That remains to be seen. But on Sunday, NBA fans got a glimpse of what the Harden/Paul pairing might look like this fall when the two players took the court together for the first time at the Drew League. Paul joined Harden’s LAUNFD team and helped the squad eek out an 83-81 win over Home Town Favorites, a team that features NBA players Jordan Bell, Delon Wright, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Dwyane Wade, DeMar DeRozan, and others were gathered at the game to see Harden and Paul go to work.
And while you probably shouldn’t look too deep into the final results of the pro-am game or the stats that the two players put up, it appears as though they put on a show for the packed crowd at the Drew League contest.
Harden finished the game with 27 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals, while Paul added 12 points and 10 assists. By playing in the game—which was Paul’s first Drew League game this season—Paul will now be eligible to play in the Drew League playoffs in August. LAUNFD clinched a playoff berth with their win on Sunday.
In addition to playing in the Drew League, Harden and Paul plan to continue working out together in Los Angeles throughout the remainder of the summer. Their Rockets teammate Bobby Brown, who also plays on LAUNFD, spoke with ESPN after the game on Sunday and said most of the Rockets players are going to be in L.A. in August to train. Brown said they will also take a trip as a team to the Bahamas in late August, just like they did in August 2016.
You can check out highlights from Harden and Paul’s much-anticipated Drew League debut in the Ball Is Life video above. Do you like what you see so far from the two?
