Report: Rockets emerging as serious threat to sign Chris Paul

James Harden had a career year serving as the de facto point guard in Mike D'Antoni's offense, but the Rockets' All-NBA guard is reportedly trying to net Houston a Point God, anyway.

While the Rockets will have to shed some salary in order to carve out maximum cap space, Houston has emerged as a serious threat to pry Chris Paul away from the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency, with Harden himself making it known he's interested in partnering with Paul, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.

Stein reports that Harden is "advocating hard" for the Rockets to pursue Paul, who is set to hit unrestricted free agency on July 1 after reportedly opting out of his 2017-18 player option, which would have been worth roughly $24.3 million.

Related: Paul reportedly meets with Clippers to discuss future

Paul could earn upward of $200 million over a five-year contract if he elected to stay and sign a max deal with the Clippers, but would have to settle for a four-year maximum worth roughly $150 million if he signs with a new team.

The first year of such a deal would be worth more than $34 million, meaning the Rockets would have to shed multiple contracts - without taking on any salary in the process - to get within range of CP3. With that in mind, the trio of Patrick Beverley, Ryan Anderson, and Lou Williams - whose combined 2017-18 salaries amount to more than $32 million - have all been mentioned in trade rumors over the past two weeks.

Paul, who's spent the last six years with the Clippers, has earned nine All-Star selections and eight All-NBA selections in his 12-year career, while averaging 18.7 points, 9.9 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.3 steals on a true shooting percentage of 58.0. The 32-year-old has yet to advance to the conference finals, however, and has only made it past the postseason's opening round on four occasions.