James Harden ‘Pretty Sure’ He Will Re-Sign With OKC Thunder


Despite some transparent posturing, James Harden admits that he will more than likely re-sign with the OKC Thunder once his contract is up. Reports SI: “Predictably, the always-cagey Sam Presti didn’t reveal anything regarding possible contract extensions for Harden and Serge Ibaka, two soon-to-be fourth-year players who would become restricted free agents next summer if they don’t agree to new deals by Oct. 31. […] ‘I’m pretty, a hundred percent, I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be in Oklahoma City,’ Harden said. ‘I’ll let my agent and Mr. Presti and [Thunder owner Clay] Bennett discuss all that, so I’ll let them handle that and stay out of it for right now and worry about the USA Olympics.’ When asked if he was at all enamored with the idea of being a more featured player elsewhere, Harden said, ‘I love winning. We have some great guys over here, something special, something I don’t think any other team in the NBA has – young guys who got drafted basically together, year after year after year. We’ve got something special, so I’m focused on what we have and trying to win a championship with these guys.’ Durant, who is well aware that the max deals given to him and Westbrook will make it extremely difficult to keep Harden and Ibaka, was confident as well but acknowledged that it would be tough for Presti to pull it off. ‘I’m positive that it’ll happen,’ Durant said regarding Harden. ‘Like you say, you never know in this league. You never know. All I can do is hope for the best, but James wants to be here. We want him here, and Serge the same way. So we’ll see. I don’t have anything to do with it. I just play ball.'”