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."

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey had been calling Sam Presti to discuss a trade for James Harden for months.

But the Oklahoma City Thunder wanted to sign Harden to an extension to keep their core in place.

Over the past few days, Presti finally began to engage Morey on trade talks because extension talks had reached an impasse where they would move Harden if he turned down the final offer from the Thunder ownership.

Harden's agent, Rob Pelinka, flew to Oklahoma City on Friday for a sit-down meeting with Presti. Pelinka was seeking a four-year, $60 million max contract and was pushing to get as close to that number as possible.

Presti was already discussing a trade with Morey and proposed Harden for Kevin Martin, Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lamb and three first-round picks, including Houston's own in 2013.

They eventually agreed upon deal was for Martin, Lamb and two first-round picks, including a guaranteed lottery pick via Toronto. 

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.” 

Dwight Howard admits that his preference was to be traded from the Orlando Magic to the Brooklyn Nets.

"I did want to go to Brooklyn. That's a place where I told the Magic that I really wanted to go," said Howard. "[But] I was traded to the Lakers, and I think it was a blessing in disguise.

" … I think there's a reason why everything happened the way it happened. So far it's been an unbelievable experience for me. … It's like a dream come true."

Howard is beginning his first season with the Lakers.

"The whole year a lot of people were making up a lot of stories about 'This deal is getting close, that deal is getting close to being done,' or whatever, but none of those deals were ever close," Howard said.

"I thought I was going to get traded at the beginning of the year, actually, that's when I asked for it. But everything happened for a reason. I had to go through last year to get to where I'm at today. It's made me a stronger and better person for it. I had to go through the hell and the stormy forecast to come out to a place like this … and I'm thankful for it."

Raja Bell's agent disputed a report from RealGM that buyout talks with the Utah Jazz were over.

"I was asked if we are discussing a buyout and I said 'no.' The rest is pure speculation," Rudoy said. "There is no trade talk that I know about."

Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey declined to comment on the situation.

Bell has not participated in training camp with the Jazz.

After months of negotiations, Raja Bell and the Utah Jazz have moved past contract buyout talks and are now weighing trade scenarios, agent Herb Rudoy told RealGM on Tuesday afternoon.

While RealGM reported last month that both sides had resumed buyout discussions with the expectation of reaching agreement, none of those conversations are taking place at this stage.

Bell has been on the roster of the Jazz throughout training camp and preseason, but the organization asked him not to show up.

The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers have long been viable destinations for Bell, who has wanted a chance of scenery. Bell, 36, is still capable of helping a contender and remains a strong outside shooter and a hard-nosed defender.

Bell has averaged nearly 10 points on 40.6 percent from three-point range over his 12 NBA seasons with six different teams. He averaged 6.4 points while playing 34 of 66 games a season ago.

The Los Angeles Lakers currently have four point guards on their depth chart, with Steve Blake, Chris Duhon and Darius Morris backing up Steve Nash.

Mitch Kupchak is not actively seeking a trade to unload some of the extra depth.

"This time of year, teams are not looking to make deals," Kupchak said. "They're evaluating their team and if anything they're going to cut players as they go into the season."

Kupchak admitted that the situation could become problematic with certain players becoming unhappy with playing time.

"Some guys may not be happy if they're not playing as much as they thought they'd play or their contract's running out and they're concerned about their next contract," Kupchak said. "It's too early right now. There's a lot of energy and excitement right here. Everybody's pretty happy. So we'll just see how it plays out the next month or two."

Ramon Sessions opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, at least in part, because he had concerns that they might acquire Steve Nash or Deron Williams in a sign-and-trade.

"It was one of those situations I looked at like, 'If I do come back what if they trade me?' " Sessions said. "There were talks about getting Deron. They always wanted the bigger-named guy. What if I get traded to a team and it's my contract year? It was one of those things that I can't say if I opted in, [Nash] wouldn't have come. They still might have tried to get him. You just never know."

Sessions ended up signing with the Charlotte Bobcats.

Deron Williams advised general manager Billy King not to wait for Dwight Howard as the Brooklyn Nets approached the 2012 offseason.

"One thing Deron did say to me, he said, 'Please, just don't wait on Dwight. We can't wait and not have a team,'" King said during the premiere of NBA TV's "The Association: Brooklyn Nets," which will air on Oct. 16.

"The team of Brooklyn is bigger than one person. I owed it to the organization, I owed it to our fans, I owed it to Deron and the players that we have to build for Brooklyn, and we went forward and built our team."

The Nets had struggled to surround Williams with complementary pieces to remain competitive as they attempted to acquire Howard.

In the offseason, the Nets re-signed Brook Lopez, Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries, while trading for Joe Johnson.

The Magic eventually traded Howard to the Lakers.