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Houston Rockets’ James Harden, middle, dribbled between Los Angeles Clippers’ Wilson Chandler, left, and Jerome Robinson during a game, April 3, in Los Angeles.
The Houston Rockets, featuring James Harden, the NBA’s scoring leader the past two seasons, and Chris Paul, are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a two-game, star-studded training camp exhibition series here in October, the Star-Advertiser has learned.
The Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association, formerly owned by Yao Ming, will play the Clippers in the other game, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s contract with the Clippers.
The HTA is sponsoring the games as part of the marketing in southern California, its largest visitor market.
The Clippers, who recently beefed up their roster with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to become preseason NBA favorites by oddsmakers for 2019-‘20, will hold “a week-long” training camp here beginning in September. They will play the Rockets Oct. 4 and the Sharks Oct. 6, at the Stan Sheriff Center subject to NBA approval, the contract says.
The contract was obtained under the state’s open records statute.
Harden averaged 36.1 points a game this past season to lead the NBA and also topped the league in 2017-‘18 at 30.4 points when he was the most valuable player.
George was the NBA’s second-leading scorer at 28 points a game in 2018-‘19 while Leonard was seventh at 26.6. Paul averaged 15.6 points per game this past season.
Dates of the ticket sales and pricing have yet to be announced.
As part of their stay, the Clippers are contracted to hold three community engagement events: a youth basketball clinic, a media/computer lab refurbishment at a school on the west side of Oahu and a coaches clinic for middle and high school-level coaches.
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