The 2013 NBA season was days away, we were preparing our halloween costumes and cleaning up somehow already rotten jack-o-laterns and then bam! OKC, fresh off a finals berth with a young core, sent the 6th man of the year to another team. Downsizing from a big three of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, to a mere big two.
What were they thinking?
Hey, I can tell you exactly that! Via video. This video.
Written and produced by: Clara Morris Directed and edited by: Jiahzhen Zhang
00:01Ah, four days before tip-off, the NBA landscape is set, nothing to do now but sit back and relax.
00:09Hey, I was relaxing.
00:12So, in 2012, OKC put up a fight in the finals with a big three that had the rest of the NBA scared,
00:20and they immediately traded down to a big two?
00:24Oh, I get it. Oklahoma's owner hates himself and doesn't want to be happy.
00:28Been there, am I right?
00:32What were we talking about?
00:34Oh, yes. The reigning Western Conference champion, Oklahoma City Thunder, trading away sixth man of the year, James Harden, was a big deal.
00:47Hello, I'm interrupting your regularly scheduled programming just briefly to tell you that Secret Face has a Patreon.
00:53Joined for bonus content every Monday.
00:55Now, back to the show.
00:56What made this trade so surprising was the success of the 2012 season, combined with the commonly known rhyme, you don't mess with success.
01:06Look at this team.
01:08Kevin Durant, OKC, that's a leg up on the rest of the league.
01:12Russell Westbrook, that's a leg up that's vibrating with fast-twitch muscles.
01:18Serge Ibaka, that's two very effective arms-up.
01:22And hopping off the bench was James Harden.
01:25Masterful off the pick-and-roll, his reliable, large contribution to the point total kept the Thunder from ever losing momentum during a game.
01:34They could rest their stars without missing a beat.
01:37Harden sacrificed minutes and ego and engendered the team-first Thunder ethos.
01:42So, yeah, the Thunder won the Western Conference Finals.
01:47And we're kind of close to snatching LeBron's very first Larry O'Brien trophy from him.
01:53Now let me tell you that this core was all under 25 years old.
01:57This team was the future of the NBA.
02:00Their learning experience finals was behind them, and likely a springboard to endless success.
02:05So why in the world would OKC mess with that?
02:10Well, Harden's rookie contract was ending in a year, and he wanted a max deal.
02:15There was precedent that indicated he'd garner a max deal.
02:18But maybe not from the Thunder, who couldn't offer him that kind of money without falling victim to the luxury tax.
02:25Which had just been altered to be debilitatingly punitive.
02:29And, as GM Sam Presti shouted from the top of Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City is a small market team.
02:38Third smallest in the league, in fact.
02:40They couldn't afford a tax of luxury? My god.
02:44But wait a minute.
02:45The team had been profitable since they moved from Seattle in 2008.
02:49And winning titles brings in money.
02:52And the chairman of OKC's ownership group, Clay Bennett, his net worth in 2012 was $400 million.
03:01Just pay the tax, Richie.
03:03But Clay Richie Bennett probably knows more about money than me.
03:07He has collected more of it than I have.
03:10Though he is older, so maybe we should just wait to compare.
03:13For whatever reason, financial know-how or greed or whatever, GM Sam Presti couldn't convince his ownership to pay the luxury tax for Harden.
03:24Well, why couldn't he make room under the cap for Harden?
03:28There were two ways to do this.
03:30Amnesty Kendrick Perkins, or not sign Serge Ibaka to a large contract.
03:35The CBA's amnesty clause allowed a team to cut a player, still pay him, but his salary wouldn't count against the cap.
03:44This clause has been described as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
03:48But a better metaphor is the time I saw someone playing didgeridoo on the subway,
03:54and someone else paid him to not play didgeridoo on the subway, and the whole subway car benefited.
04:00And Kendrick Perkins seemed to many like an ideal candidate to stop playing didgeridoo,
04:07because he was not an all-star or potential all-star.
04:11And using that data, he seemed overpaid.
04:15He had three years left on a four-year, $35 million deal.
04:20But Perkins played a kind of invaluable role on the Thunder.
04:23That of keeping the West's dominating big men from blocking the team's path to the finals.
04:28Which isn't a column on the stat sheet.
04:32In the 2012 Western Conference semis, Perkins kept Andrew Bynum off that path.
04:37Same with Tim Duncan in the Western Conference finals.
04:40And for the coming season, the Lakers added Dwight Howard, which could give them the West...
04:46if it weren't for Perkins.
04:49Because Perk wasn't playing didgeridoo.
04:51He was playing bass.
04:53Big and heavy and out of the spotlight, Perkins glued the band together.
04:57The amnesty deadline came and went, and Perk remained with the Thunder.
05:02But there was another way to make cap space.
05:05Simply sign Hardin instead of Serge Ibaka.
05:08But that's not what the Thunder did.
05:12In 2012, they signed Ibaka to a large deal that made it impossible to also keep Hardin without paying the luxury tax.
05:19Leading many to believe they picked keeping Serge Ibaka over keeping James Hardin.
05:26Which, with hindsight, is bad.
05:30But look, in the summer of 2012, a lot of people thought what Ibaka could do was more rare and more valuable than what Hardin could do.
05:38Here's what they thought Hardin could do.
05:41Score a lot against subs and or alongside superstars.
05:45Fuck up in the finals.
05:47Probably nothing that we haven't seen him already do.
05:50Which has been great so far, to be fair.
05:53Here's what they thought Ibaka could do.
05:55Continue to improve at a rapid clip.
05:58Anchor the OKC defense on an elite level.
06:01And determine the balance of power in the NBA.
06:04It's hard to predict the future.
06:07That's why it costs so many tickets to have your fortune read at the county fair.
06:10There were some clairvoyant voices out there.
06:14But even their predictions fell short.
06:17The Thunder looked at the evidence and made an educated bet.
06:21On Serge Ibaka.
06:22They still had options to keep Hardin.
06:25Mainly offer him less than a max deal.
06:28He likes sacrificing for the team.
06:30He said so.
06:32Apparently less money and a bench role was too much sacrifice.
06:37Then the only option left for the Thunder was to trade James Hardin.
06:41And hope to get back strong enough pieces that they'd remain title contenders.
06:45Wait a second.
06:47Hardin's rookie contract didn't end until 2013.
06:50So why trade him in 2012?
06:53Why not let this core run it back with their learning experience finals under their belt?
06:58And, you know, go for glory.
07:00Well, because Hardin was a more valuable trade asset in 2012.
07:04If a new team gets him now, they're only paying him a rookie contract amount for the 2012-2013 season.
07:11Which is cheap for an Olympic gold medal winner.
07:14Which James became as the top reserve on Team USA over the summer, while OKC was letting the Amnesty deadline pass and signing Serge Ibaka.
07:23The Thunder had decided that getting the best return for Hardin was more important than a potential championship in 2013.
07:30So, what could they get in return?
07:33Some say Sam Presti's first call was to the Warriors.
07:36He wanted Klay Thompson and a pick, but Golden State would have also had a tough time fitting Hardin under the cap.
07:44Other sources say his first call was to the Raptors.
07:46He wanted rookie center Jonas Valanciunas as a successor to, and potential improvement on, Kendrick Perkins.
07:54But the Raptors weren't interested.
07:57Now, his first call might have actually been to the Wizards, because before the draft, he was talking to them about trading Hardin for the guy the Wizards were going to pick third overall, Bradley Beal.
08:06Well, the draft was June 28th.
08:10The finals ended on June 21st.
08:14I'm beginning to think they were planning to trade Hardin all along.
08:18The Wizards didn't go for Presti's idea, because they didn't want to pay for Hardin.
08:22Oklahoma wasn't the only team that couldn't tell the future.
08:26There were conversations with both the Suns and the Jazz, but nothing materialized.
08:31Which brings us to the trade that did materialize.
08:34James Hardin to the Rockets for Kevin Martin, 12th overall draft pick Jeremy Lamb, and three future picks.
08:41This was not seen as a bad trade, even from OKC Faithful.
08:46Yeah, it's sad to lose Hardin, but this didn't look bad.
08:50Kevin Martin could score off the bench, maybe not as much as Hardin, sure, but still a lot.
08:56Lamb looked promising, and the Thunder was good with developing talent.
09:00And the picks. It was two first-rounders, one of which could be a lottery pick, and an early second-rounder, which is nice.
09:08Plus, Presti was good at building through the draft.
09:12Also influencing how good this deal looked, nobody knew what Hardin was capable of.
09:18With hindsight, this trade is not ideal for the Thunder.
09:23What could they have been with Hardin the Superstar alongside Durant and Westbrook, the superstars?
09:30Permanent champions?
09:31But it's impossible to have hindsight in the moment.
09:35And, hang on.
09:37The Hardin trade wasn't that bad for Oklahoma.
09:40Like, OKC was still really, really good without him.
09:452013, they were finals-bound until Patrick Beverley didn't intend to tear Westbrook's meniscus.
09:52The following year, they took the Western Conference Finals to six games.
09:56Then, Durant was hurt, that's a mulligan.
09:592016 was great, until Klay Thompson made 11 threes in Game 6 like a jerk.
10:05Hardin couldn't have stopped that.
10:06My point is, the Thunder were still title contenders without Hardin.
10:12And the assets they got for Hardin were helpful in making them title contenders.
10:17Well, some of them.
10:19Kevin Martin was great.
10:21Jeremy Lamb, OK, didn't amount to much.
10:24But those picks?
10:25One of them turned into Steven Adams.
10:28A franchise cornerstone and a big help in those deep playoff runs.
10:32OK, now, hold on, slow down.
10:34I actually can hear you screaming at your screen right now.
10:37And you're right.
10:39Title contention and deep playoff runs are nothing compared to a dynasty.
10:44So Sam Presti and the Thunder get called wrong and dumb and short-sighted.
10:49Jeremy Lamb apparently still gets death threats.
10:52Which seems like too much.
10:54But the truth is, most people in 2012 underestimated Hardin.
10:58From journalists, to the Wizards, to his own team.
11:03I guess maybe actually the rockets were onto something, though.
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