Basketball: Harden aims ‘to be the best player in the world’ as he sets Rockets target of top 3 seeds

James Harden remains a Houston Rocket with the start of the NBA's regular season just two days away. How he feels about that is unclear, with the superstar refusing to discuss his future or answer any questions about consistent reports that he wants to be traded. Harden reported late to camp as rumours swirled that he no longer wants to play for the Rockets and hopes to be dealt. He played in Houston's last two preseason games and talked about the season on Monday as the Rockets prepared for their Wednesday opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But the Beard had nothing to say when asked if he feels better about the situation in Houston now than he did when he arrived at the camp, responding with a terse, "next question." The eight-time All-Star and 2018 MVP also seemed annoyed when asked if he is where he wants to be after missing the first week of camp. "We keep talking about what I missed," he said. "I think everybody, the entire league is in catch-up mode in a sense of we only had a short time for training camp, so everybody's trying to get into game shape because obviously the season just ended a few months ago."