Sunday, October 28th, 2012 at 10:48 am  |  61 responses

OKC Thunder Believe Their Players Will ‘Ultimately Support’ Harden Trade


Many have assumed that some of the OKC Thunder players will be pretty pissed about Saturday night’s trade that sent James Harden down to Houston, given that it probably dampens the squad’s 2013 Championship potential. Not the team brass, though—they believe the guys will understand, according to ESPN: “The Oklahoma City Thunder have achieved a remarkable amount of success by establishing and sticking to a few central beliefs. It was that fidelity to those principles that led them to trade James Harden because of a contractual dispute. According to sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking, the Thunder believe their players will ultimately support the controversial decision to send Harden to the Houston Rockets in a blockbuster deal that breaks up the core that reached the NBA Finals last season. The Thunder maintain a philosophy that the individual sacrifices for the whole. In this case, that would have meant Harden agreeing to accept less than the maximum amount for a four-year extension, which was $60 million. Reportedly the Thunder’s final offer was in the range of $55 million for four years.”

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  • http://www.facebook.com/qcollingwood Interdico Scriptor

    Um… maybe there’s a reason they signed Ibaka. Maybe… just maybe after last season’s finals and Harden’s elevated status to the Olympics plus 6th man they knew to hedge their bets on some players… and let the dice roll on others.
    Would you or I have done it… no. Are we on the staff of the Thunder… no. Do we have any comprehension of the true machinations of the elite athlete… no.
    Full stop. Or as your people would say, period.

  • http://twitter.com/AjpDos Allen Powell

    No you are missing my point. It is fair and smart for OKC to worry about its money, but greedy for Harden to worry about his? Nah, that’s silly. Harden made a business decision. A full max deal pays him like $18 million more than what OKC was offering, not $2 million. OKC traded him rather than have to pay full market value. Remember, the team extensions are often discounts, that’s why players like Deron and CP3 refused to sign extensions and instead became full free agents. People are funny man. They cheer for teams to make money, and get mad at players for wanting to make money. OKC made a really smart trade, and Harden made a smart move by holding out for his cash.

  • jmotheshow

    smh i gave list of teams he could sign with including houston but watever u say man jus ignorant smh.

  • jmotheshow

    you probably one of the only ppl with sense on here

  • EJ

    Does anyone know what kind of a contract Kevin Martin has?

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    $6Million Dollars is a lot of money. He’s not LeBron, he doesn’t make $50M a year off of endorsements or even $1Million in endorsements a year. People are totally undervaluing how much money that really is..

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    well it’s a max contract. and Harden was the 3rd best SG in the league per minute last season (Daryl Morey likes advanced stats more than i do) – it’s not like those types of players grow on trees.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    well it’s a max contract. and Harden was the 3rd best SG in the league per minute last season (Daryl Morey likes advanced stats more than i do) – it’s not like those types of players grow on trees.

  • ash

    The Thunder maintain a philosophy that the individual sacrifices for the whole. If this statement is true why didn’t kevin durnat or westbrook take less money so harden can esign. Im pretty sure both new how important harden was to the team.

  • pposse

    its bothersome that james harden has only been in the league for 3 years and someone is determining that this guy is worth more than 15 plus milly a year. I mean, yah sure the advanced stats are there, and he probably is the third best sg in the league but he doesn’t have any hardware/awards to justify the spending. RW qualified or would have qualified for a max extension under the ‘d rose’ rule and KD, well we all know what kind of monster KD is.

  • nash

    This is like watching the rise and fall of an empire, these kids are scared, whos next? Why come to O.K. State in the first place? I wonder how much they got, since they got overflowing fans fr all over the state wearing the blues or whites in the arena, understandable Presti loves his job, but about the guy who saddened the seattle fans, perhaps okc fans will get over it, I know Brooks dosnt like it, Durant just say wow(for what ¿ ). Whos to be blame? James or Presti?

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