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James Harden's future with the Houston Rockets continues to be the central storyline across the league's landscape leading up to the start of the 2020-21 NBA season. At first, it appeared as though the Rockets were in no rush to trade the former MVP despite his request to be moved to a contending team. The Rockets traded for John Wall over the offseason, and they also added Christian Wood and DeMarcus Cousins in free agency, and they were hoping that those additions would be enough to entice Harden to want to remain in Houston long-term. 

However, now it appears that the Rockets are resigned to the fact that they will have to move Harden, as his unhappiness is hanging over the organization like a cloud, and they would like to get a deal done sooner rather than later, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. As such, the Rockets are also expanding the list of potential landing spots beyond the teams that Harden specifically requested a trade to. 

From Wojnarowski: 

The Rockets are expanding their conversations beyond those two preferred destinations of Harden: Brooklyn and Philadelphia. They're starting to gather more interest in both the Eastern and Western Conferences of teams, because Harden has two years left on his deal, who'd be willing to trade for him without assurance that he'd be willing to stay long-term. I think that there's more and more engagement of teams in both conferences with Houston. And while Brooklyn and Philly are still potentially viable, I think the door is opened to the possibility that James Harden could land someone other than where he specifically wants to play. 

Houston would like to get this done sooner than later. This is a pall over the entire organization, their new head coach Stephen Silas as he tries to implement his program there. They're got to find the right deal. This is too important for the organization long-term. They have a checklist of what they would like in a deal. You don't always get everything you want in one of these trades, but they've got to really maximize value. And that's going to be a really good young player, and draft picks at the very least... They're looking at three team scenarios, where perhaps a particular team doesn't exactly have the player they want, but they could help go get that player in a bigger deal. 

Given the years remaining on Harden's current contract, the Rockets are in complete control of the situation. They could trade him, or not trade him, whenever they so choose over the next two seasons. However, it makes sense that they wouldn't want to hold on to an unhappy superstar, as that could lead to ample issues in the locker room. As such, it certainly wouldn't be surprising to see Harden moved before the season starts, or shortly thereafter. At this point, the biggest question is which team will come to the table with the most intriguing offer for Houston.