Daryl Morey credits James Harden with making his job as general manager of the Houston Rockets easy both on and off the court.
"James was everything," Morey said. "Not only is he a great player on the floor, but he's someone who's just focused on winning and is willing to do anything to make it happen, whether it be meet with people, call them, text them, whatever is required. He makes my job easy."
Harden helped convince Chris Paul to join the Rockets last offseason.
Paul doesn't recall who was first to reach out, but he quickly found common ground with Harden. Paul and Harden began to talk almost daily. Trevor Ariza helped reinforce Harden's pitch.
"It was just watching the landscape of the league and talking about having fun," Paul said. "So far, so good. Still got a lot of work to do, but regardless, I'm having the most fun I've had in a long time."
Morey didn't hesitate in dealing Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams and a first round pick to the Clippers for Paul.
"I say sometimes flippantly that there isn't really a superstar store in the NBA where you get to go and pick out which one you want," Morey said. "You have to jump on the opportunities as they come and sometimes make them fit.
"But in this case, we didn't really have to [make them fit]. The fit was really incredible from day one."