James Harden says he won’t recruit LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony to Houston

The Houston Rockets are expected to pursue a plethora of big-name free agents this summer, including LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, with the hopes of forming their very own Big 3 with Dwight Howard and James Harden already in the fold.

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But Rockets general manager Daryl Morey shouldn’t expect any help from Harden while trying to convince James and Anthony that Houston is the right place for them. Harden said on Saturday that he has no plans to help recruit the free agent stars.

From Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:

"Though he does not plan to join the recruiting efforts for LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, Rockets All-Star James Harden would not bet against Rockets general manager Daryl Morey landing one of the prized free agents next month.(…)“Daryl is very aggressive,” Harden said. “That’s the reason I’m here. That’s the reason Dwight’s here. He’s focused on what he wants and he’s going to go get it.”"

But don’t think that this has anything to do with a lack of desire on Harden’s end to add another superstar. He made it clear that he thought LeBron or Melo would obviously make the Rockets a much better team.

"“It would help us a lot,” Harden said of adding one of the league’s top stars. “It would take a lot of the offensive load off me and Dwight. It’ll be good for our team and hopefully we can get somebody to help us.”"

The Rockets have a meeting with Anthony scheduled for July 1, but, like every other team, have nothing set up with King James at this point.