The James Harden trade that sent the Beard from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets is considered to be one of the worst in NBA history. On Gil’s Arena, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas discussed the major fumble done by the franchise.
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Arenas said that the OKC should’ve known what they had at the time. That realization would’ve stopped them from making such a big mistake. The fact that they missed out on creating a dynasty in a small market like Oklahoma for just $4 million is still baffling to this day.
Arenas referred to the situation between the Lakers and the late, great Kobe Bryant as a great example of the executives being aware of their talent pool. The Lakers were rewarded for the same as Kobe brought them five championships. However, no one in the OKC could see that far into the future.
He said, “The championships make my team go from a billion to three billion. We win two, three billion to five billion. I know that. So, these four million dollars is irrelevant at this point because the championships give me billions. But the problem is, he didn’t see.”
Arenas believes that the OKC messed up their chances of winning their first title since 1979.
"If I know [James Harden] is an MVP and he stays and it costs me $4M, the championship makes my team go from $1B to $3B… so this $4M is irrelevant."
The Arena breaks down how the Thunder messed up the Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden Big 3 in OKC. pic.twitter.com/FTVXvJgkQR
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) December 5, 2024
At the time, the Thunder had the perfect recipe for success. They had Harden, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook, who also shared a great relationship on and off the floor. They had won the Conference title in 2012.
However, the multi-billion dollar franchise disrupted its future for $4 million and the fear of hitting luxury tax. The Thunder offered $55.5 million over four years which was $4.5 million less than the max deal Harden was looking for and eventually received from the Rockets.
James Harden cried while leaving the OKC
The Harden trade was arguably one of the biggest headline makers in 2012. As years went by, the decision to get rid of the 2018 MVP became more ridiculous. During an interview with Time Magazine in 2017, the 10-time All-Star talked about the reason why he felt so hurt leaving the franchise.
Harden said, “I was almost in tears. Me and Russell knew each other from when we played at the Boys and Girls Club together as kids. Me and Kevin hung out like every day… We got better every year. My third year we made it to the Finals and lost to Miami. After that summer we all went to the Olympics together. Win a gold medal.”
After that Harden felt that his team was ready to become the NBA Champions the following year, but that dream never became a reality. Out of the trio, only KD has managed to win NBA titles, whereas Russ and Harden are still searching for one at the tail end of their careers.
