Bye-Bye Beard

 

 

Oklahoma City has been blind-sided.

 

 

Nobody saw it coming. The last thought on Thunder fans' minds was that their Sixth Man of the Year would be traded...

 

 

But he was.

 

 

After all of the talk from Harden about "sacrifices" for getting a deal done with the head office of the Thunder, it seemed to be just that... Talk.

 

 

Reports show that Harden's last offer from the Thunder was a $55.5 million deal extending over four years. An offer that is just $4.5 million short of the maximum offer. Harden must have thought the offer was too much of a sacrifice since he declined.

 

 

The multi-player trade included Harden, Daequan Cook, Cole Aldrich and Lazar Hayward going to the Houston Rockets. The Thunder received Kevin Martin, rookie Jeremy Lamb and multiple draft picks.

 

 

Kevin Martin is no slouch. He has averaged 18.4 PPG, 2.1 APG and 3.5 RPG throughout his NBA career. Yet, he is no James Harden. On the bright side, the Thunder organization is known for bringing the best out of players. One can only hope that this trade is not a bust.

 

 

For those who are not familiar with Jeremy Lamb, he is a guard/forward from UConn. He averaged 14.1 PPG and 5 RPG in his collegiate career.

 

 

Sam Presti has worked magic in the past years with the Thunder organization in acquiring great players to fit in specific roles. But this trade seems to have Thunder fans scratching their heads. It just goes to show that small market teams have to make tougher decisions, and James Harden must not be worth the price tag to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

 

 

Immediately after hearing news of the trade, I went searching for twitter handles for Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb. I found on Lamb's page that he has been following Thunder players for quite some time. Maybe somebody knew something was coming? You can follow Lamb at @jlamb. I have yet to find the handle for Kevin Martin, if one exists at all.

 

 

Ironically, this trade went final during an Oklahoma Sooners game, a game they lost to Notre Dame. Needless to say, it was a tough night for Oklahoma.

 

 

Harden from media day: “Oh yeah, yeah. Sacrifice. I think everybody on this team has sacrificed in their own way just for the better of the team. I think that’s why we’re so close. Like I said, I think everything will work itself out eventually.”

 

 

Harden from media day on if he only wanted the max: “No, no. Like I said, I’m not really worried about that.”

 

 

Harden after the Finals: “This team is like a family. 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. This is something special here. 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.”