There have been a lot of bad trades throughout NBA history (the Clippers trading an unprotected draft pick to Cleveland for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon comes to mind).
Bill Simmons believes that Oklahoma City trading away James Harden in 2012 just happens to be one of the worst.
Oklahoma City was coming off a season in which they were the Western Conference Champions. Harden was the reigning Sixth Man of the Year. And yet, the two sides were unable to work out an extension.
So the Thunder dealt Harden following the 2012 season, sending him to Houston along with Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward in return for Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb.
In a recent episode of Bill Simmons’s Book of Basketball for The Ringer, Simmons talked about how everything went down, saying that the Harden trade is the “biggest what-if” in league history.
“I believe, what if OKC kept KD, Russ, and Harden together, is the biggest NBA what-if of all time,” Simmons said. “Known now as the Harden trade, it swung at least four titles and at least three MVP awards.”
Simmons likened trading Harden to the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, and how it’s still discussed by fans a century later.
“How would our hypothetical great-great grandkids comprehend that trade? Three future MVPs made the 2012 Finals, all 23 years and under, they never played together again and it happened because OKC wanted to avoid the luxury tax.”
If Oklahoma City had been able to work out an extension with Harden, would the Thunder have eventually won the NBA championship that’s eluded them? Would KD have ultimately stayed?
Too bad we’ll never know.