Before becoming the reigning NBA champions today, the Oklahoma City Thunder once had a star-studded young core that was poised to conquer the entire NBA.
The Thunder proudly paraded Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden — three highly talented and homegrown sensations. And there's something special about them when they successfully led the franchise to the 2012 NBA Finals, only losing against LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
Just days before the 2012-13 campaign, OKC pulled the trigger and made a stunning decision by trading Harden to the Houston Rockets. That simply turned the world upside down for the entire Thunder faithful, most especially Kevin Durant.
Looking back 13 years ago, Durant still feels crushed about how things unfolded. He also couldn't hide his frustration when several players congratulated Harden for landing in Houston, as he believes they were actually relieved that their group was broken up.
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“What pissed me off is ‘Bron and D-Wade so many dudes around the NBA sending tweets out: ‘Congrats to my bro James. He goin’ to Houston. He gonna kill there.’ I know Bron and them was so [expletive] happy we weren't together anymore because we were on they [expletive],” Durant confessed on Starting 5 Season 2. “ … Y’all just scared. Y’all know we was on the way.”
Harden blossomed into a superstar with the Rockets. Meanwhile, Durant and Westbrook also attained superstardom in Oklahoma City, but both of them failed to give the Thunder an NBA championship out of disappointing postseason shortcomings.
Although they already managed to get over the hump this year thanks to the leadership of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Harden’s stunning exit in Oklahoma City will still continue to haunt Thunder fans about the past. A lot of ‘What-Ifs’ remain, but the trio of Durant, Westbrook and Harden could definitely have brought something to Bricktown if they had stayed together for a few more years.
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