The question about how if he feels about better that he has returned and answer of next is telling. It is pretty much a indirect way of saying no
This is why Harden staying was always completely possible. It’s the ego of competition. If the Rockets, start out BLISTERING, and they have the #1 seed or something, and Harden is an MVP favorite, how could he leave? His ego and the addiction of domination wouldn’t allow it. Let alone how fun that would be. That 2018 feeling would hit him. Meanwhile Milwaukee is lapping the field, Brooklyn is doing fine without him so they start getting content, and TOR/MIA/BOS are middle of the pack teams that don’t seem as appealing.
Harden's personality is to avoid certain things and not come face to face with those important things hence this mentality also bleeds into his issues of not showing up in the biggest moments that matter in the biggest games. It's a mentality. Sometimes you have to say and do the uncomfortable things to accomplish success.
Or, he just doesn't want to talk about it. Everybody knows the situation, he certainly doesn't want to take shots at the team and create issues internally. He expects to be a top 3 seed, so he has pretty ****ing high expectations compared to the rest of the league that doesn't even think we will make the playoffs.
Also, maybe no way to answer it without the media twisting it one way or the other. I'm glad he referred to the team as "ourselves" and talked about team goals. Now, no way to tell whether he means that in a more general sense, i.e. "whatever team I'm on, the goal is to get a top-3 seed and home court."
I always said if he made it to a second media availability, he wasn't going to be traded this season. My theory is about to get put to the test very quickly.