When Karen Morey finished writing a script for one of her freshman film classes at NYU, she shared it with her father, a musical buff and one-time producer on the Houston theater scene.



Her dad has always supported her interest in the arts. His Google Drive is filled with home videos of his daughter singing as a toddler. And when it came to this project, he was uniquely qualified to offer critiques.



Who better to read a script about the Houston Rockets’ trade for James Harden than the man who executed it?



“By the time she started really liking basketball, James was kind of this iconic figure,” said Daryl Morey, the Rockets’ general manager. “What she didn’t realize is how he was overshadowed (in Oklahoma City) by (Kevin) Durant and (Russell) Westbrook.”



After all, when the six-player trade came together in 2012, Karen was just 12, a typical pre-teen girl who showed faint interest in her dad’s work. She...