James Harden and the Houston Rockets have agreed upon a five-year, $80 million contract extension.

Harden was acquired by the Rockets last Saturday in trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Harden was the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year last season and also won a gold medal as a member of the United States' basketball team.

During extension talks with the Oklahoma City Thunder, James Harden and his agent sought a 15 percent trade kicker.

Harden was entertaining taking less than a max contract, but wanted a financial incentive should the Thunder trade him.

The Thunder were offering Harden a four-year contract in the neighborhood of $53 million.

With the Houston Rockets, Harden will be able to sign a five-year contract.

The Phoenix Suns were long tied to a possible run at James Harden next offseason had he become a restricted free agent and the team also pursued a trade.

"We were engaged in discussions on numerous occasions," Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby said. "We most recently met in person when we played them (in Tulsa, Okla., on Oct. 19). At the end of the day, there wasn't a deal that was workable for both sides." 

The Suns had cap space, picks and players on good contracts, but the Oklahoma City Thunder preferred the package from the Rockets.

Babby said no proposal "got a whole lot of life."

The Houston Rockets have waived Shaun Livingston, bringing their roster to 15.

Livingston was acquired via trade from the Bucks in the offseason.

The Rockets elected to keep Scott Machado and Toney Douglas as their backup point guards.

James Harden intends to sign a contract extension with the Houston Rockets.

"It happened so fast, it happened very fast," Harden said. "But this is the position I'm in in now. Just have to make the best out of it. I'm with Houston now. I just have to come in here and play hard and win games."

Even Sam Presti admitted that the Rockets can offer a contract to Harden that the Thunder could not.

"Quite honestly, the value of the trade was greater based on the fact that the Rockets could offer him the contract that he was seeking," Presti said. "By doing it when we did it, it allowed the Rockets to secure -- or I believe it will allow the Rockets to secure him and James will get the contract that he was seeking. And because of that, we were able to capitalize on the trade and probably get a little bit more than we would have if we would have waited."

The final offer by the Oklahoma City Thunder to James Harden was a four-year, $54 million contract.

Harden could sign a max offer of $60 million over four seasons.

The Thunder agreed to trade Harden to the Rockets on Saturday.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets have sent Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and future pick considerations (first round picks from Mavericks and Raptors in 2013, and a second round pick from the Bobcats) for Harden, Cole Aldrich, Lazar Hayward and Daequan Cook.

Harden had previously turned down a four-year, $52 million extension from the Thunder. Harden had been seeking a max contract of $60 million over four seasons.

Harden will return to Oklahoma City as a member of the Thunder on Nov. 28, the lone appearance by the Rockets in 12-13.

The Rockets will begin discussions on a contract extension with Harden's agent, Rob Pelinka.

"We wanted to sign James to an extension, but at the end of the day, these situations have to work for all those involved. Our ownership group again showed their commitment to the organization with several significant offers," Sam Presti said. "We were unable to reach a mutual agreement, and therefore executed a trade that capitalized on the opportunity to bring in a player of Kevin's caliber, a young talent like Jeremy and draft picks, which will be important to our organizational goal of a sustainable team. We appreciate James, Cole, Daequan and Lazar’s contributions to the Thunder organization and this community and wish them the best in the future.” 

Houston Rockets' owner Les Alexander pushed for the franchise to sign Jeremy Lin, according to sources.

Lin became a global icon with a series of remarkable performances for the New York Knicks.

The basketball people of the Rockets were not as high on Lin as ownership, according to sources.

Lin signed a three-year, $25 million contract with the Rockets in July.

Unlike many players who go undrafted, Jeremy Lin had no interest in pursuing a professional basketball career overseas.

Lin was planning on giving himself one more year to establish himself in the NBA before pursuing a career with his Harvard degree.

"I absolutely would not have liked playing in Spain or somewhere like that, so I was just gonna do it a year," said Lin. "Then I was gonna be done."

Lin did not care for his experience in the D-League while a rookie in the Golden State Warriors' organization.

"I'm going to be honest, playing in D-League games is tough," said Lin. "We got way more fans at Harvard games. It feels like a demotion, and it feels like if you have one bad game then the thought gets in your brain: I might get cut."

Jeremy Lin signed with the Houston Rockets in the offseason, but recently spoke fondly about his experience with the New York Knicks.

"You can't ask for a city or a fan base to embrace somebody more than they embraced me," said Lin. "I know it's kind of silly to talk about it with only two years under my belt in the league, but going in before free agency, I was like, 'I want to play in front of these fans for the rest of my career.' I really did. I really wanted to play in front of the Madison Square Garden fans for the rest of my career, because they're just unbelievable."