Back in 2012, the Thunder came awfully close to capturing their first NBA Championship of the Oklahoma City era, but they fell to the Miami Heat in five games.
Months later, James Harden was dealt to the Houston Rockets and the team hasn’t returned to the NBA Finals since. Based on his high standards, the prevailing sentiment was that Harden underperformed during the Finals. A popular theory was that Harden — who was coming up on free agency — was looking for a max. contract and that it was a price that the Thunder front office thought was a bit too steep.
Although it’s obvious that it was a bad trade for the Thunder, they ended up receiving Kevin Martin and the draft pick that became Steven Adams, among other things.
Too bad they didn’t walk away with Bradley Beal.
The All The Smoke podcast — hosted by retired NBA veterans Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson — has become a go-to source for NBA content, as the two former stars have no problem getting high-profile guests who tell great stories. The latest example is current Washington Wizard and two-time NBA All-Star Bradley Beal.
According to the 26-year-old stud, despite not working out for the Thunder, he was nearly dealt in a trade that would have essentially landed Harden in Washington, D.C. and given the Thunder the third pick that was used to draft Beal back in 2012.
Here’s what Beal had to say about it:
“We’re sitting in the draft room, sure enough, my agent is tapping me, he’s like, ‘It’s possible you might go to OKC.’ I said, ‘Damn, how am I going to go there, I ain’t worked out for OKC?’ I only worked out for three teams — Washington, Cleveland and Charlotte. That’s when Harden was still in OKC. The deal was to trade James to Washington … OKC was going to trade up to two or three, get me, trade James to Washington for me. I would have been in OKC with K.D. and Russ. That was a last-minute decision. It was almost done.
Obviously, it didn’t happen. Beal discussed it all at the 28:05 mark of the video below.
In hindsight, pairing Beal with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook would have given the Thunder a trio of young stars to continue to work with, but the club probably thought it would be better served surrounding its young core — Serge Ibaka and Reggie Jackson were also still on the team — with a proven veteran. Martin fit that mold.
But now, when Thunder fans watch Beal, they can only wonder about what could have been. Beal revealed this at the 28:05 mark of the podcast.