Oklahoma City Thunder must secure James Harden – NBA Feature
Oklahoma City Thunder have been a team on the rise and the reason behind their continuous success has been the presence of young players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and James Harden.
They already had Durant and Westbrook locked in on long term contracts and managed to secure Ibaka’s signature on a contract extension as well during the summer. But if the Thunder have any real title aspirations, their management
needs to make sure that Harden who is due a contract extension soon stays put.
In a recently given interview to Marca, Harden has also shown intent of staying in Oklahoma City which does leave the team with a good chance of securing him;
“I don’t know. I can’t make that decision,” Harden said. “I only focus on playing. I want to keep playing with the Thunder. I feel like home and the team is special. My teammates are like my family. We can do big things. We’ll
see what happens.”
One of the main problems the Thunder are currently facing is that they had most of their players playing on their rookie contracts till recently and now they have to retain four of their key players on pretty expensive contracts.
However, in order to create a dynasty and keep the success coming their way, these things will have to be taken care of and Harden is the only remaining piece of the puzzle left to be secured.
NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year may not be the best of leaders and played an extremely poor Final series against Miami Heat, but Harden completes the OKC offense as he comes off the bench to inject the scoring burst into the
second unit’s productivity.
The best possible solution for the Thunder would be to unload Kendrick Perkins and free up the $25 million that he is owed. With that money available Harden could be secured to stay in his supportive role to Durant and Westbrook.
It is a fact that OKC will never have the same kind of money which the likes of Los Angeles Lakers have at their disposal and paying a hefty sum in luxury tax is something this small market team cannot afford. In the case, they
need to follow the example of Miami who have remained under the salary cap despite having LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on their ranks. It was because the players agreed to take less money, just to have a chance of playing together and winning a
championship.
With this strategy to form the core of the team with star players, other roles players will automatically be drawn towards the appeal of winning a Championship ring, especially the ring less veterans and players who are waived
off by other teams and are more than willing to pay for less money.
It does seem like as a bit tricky at this stage but if anybody in NBA can fix this quagmire, it is OKC’s GM Sam Presti.
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