James Harden hints on staying at the Oklahoma City Thunder - NBA Update
Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden has said that he wishes to tie a long term deal with the club, and would not like to play for any other franchise.
The reining NBA Sixth Man of the Year said that his agent is trying to carve out a contract with OKC and for that negotiation are underway with general manager Sam Presti.
James told media during a candid session that he loves everything about Thunder and will soon sign an extension;
"They'll do a pretty good job of working it out," Harden said. "I'm focused on several other things right now. But when the time is (right), they'll figure it out and it'll be done."
Interestingly the franchise has already signed long term contracts with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, leaving them with a scanty salary cap. Moreover OKC is also holding plans to re-sign Serge Ibaka and Eric Maynor. This
situation has left most people questioning the capability of Thunder to re-engage all of them.
For James, salary might not be an issue. He considers the team as his family and is ready to pay the cost to keep it together.
“This team is like a family,” Harden said. “Like, we’re really brothers. We hang out most of the time every single day. You won’t find any other team like this. I love it here.”
Harden, KD and Westbrook together have emerged NBA’s finest troika this season, but as the NBA Finals showed they have yet to gain more experience. They all are in the early 20’s and still have a long way to go.
The best possible way is to keep them together and Harden believes in that;
"This is something special here," Harden said. "A dynasty is being built here. So we're winning, we're having fun and we're brothers. The other stuff, you can't buy it”.
This was James’ third season with Thunder and he averaged 16.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists coming off the bench. He had been a consistent and solid support throughout the season but his performance took a nose dive in
the finals against Heat.
After averaging 18.5 points in the conference finals, Harden averaged 12.4 points, 4.8 boards and 3.6 assists in the finals. He could score in double figures only once and in that performance as well, 17 of the 21 points came in
the first half.
The Finals however were all part of learning curve and if the young Thunder core is maintained, the team can have great success in the years to come.
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