The Thunder this season can be considered the best team in the West, currently they are still able to rank first in the West with a record of 32 wins and 6 losses even without Holmgren, and the gap between them and the second place in the West has already been widened, so although the regular season is not yet halfway through, as long as they do not have a large-scale injury, they have basically locked in the top spot in the West in advance. And considering the age of the three core players Alexander, Jiewei, and Holmgren, the Thunder is expected to maintain their current competitiveness in the future, and even have a chance to win the championship.
And when we think back to the last time we saw the Thunder relying on their own young players to show the trend of achieving a dynasty, it was still during the period of the Thunder's three young talents. In 2007, the Thunder selected Durant, in 2008 they selected Westbrook, and in 2009 they selected Harden. These three entered the league and quickly realized their talent, so in 2012 they successfully led the Thunder into the finals, but that year they faced the more experienced Heat's Big Three, and the Thunder eventually lost.
Although the Thunder lost to the Heat, at that time the outside world was still very optimistic about their prospects, but at the same time the Thunder first ushered in the renewal problem that made the management very headache. At that time, Durant had already signed a four-year maximum salary contract, while Westbrook and Perkins were 5 years 80 million and 4 years 36 million respectively. The league's salary cap at that time was 58 million dollars, and the luxury tax line was 69.81 million. With the salaries of the Thunder's role players at that time, if they did not want to pay the luxury tax, they needed to make good use of the remaining salary space.
At that time, the Thunder definitely wanted to renew contracts with Harden and Ibaka, but their salary space meant that they could only provide a satisfactory contract to one of them, and the other would have to make concessions in terms of salary if they still wanted to stay. And the Thunder obviously attached more importance to Ibaka. When facing some potential opponents, Ibaka, as an inside player, his role was still very important, such as James of the Heat, Duncan of the Spurs, Aldridge of the Trail Blazers, Garnett of the Celtics, etc., so the Thunder quickly made a decision and renewed with Ibaka for 4 years and 48 million at the beginning of the 2012 offseason.
Later, the Thunder still offered Harden a contract, which was 56 million for 4 years, with an average annual salary of about 14 million, but at that time Harden was pursuing 60 million for 4 years, and these 4 million became the fuse for the Thunder to give up him. As everyone knows, the Thunder team is in Oklahoma City, so saying that they are a small market team is no problem, and in this case, the team's unwillingness to pay the luxury tax is understandable.
After the renewal negotiations with Harden stalled, the Thunder began to explore trade plans. After they put Harden on the trading shelf, he still attracted many teams. Although Harden's performance in the finals that year was not outstanding, after all, he was only 22 years old at that time and had just been elected the sixth man, so he still had certain trade value.
In the end, the Rockets stood out from among many teams. They also sent out Kevin Martin, who averaged 23.4 points and 17.1 points in the previous two seasons, to get Harden, which shows that he still has certain strength. In addition, the Rockets also sent away Lamb, whose draft template was Reggie Miller. It should be noted that such shooters are exactly what the Thunder need for their outside configuration, after all, they already have Westbrook and Durant as core ball handlers.
After making this trade, the Thunder's lineup seemed more reasonable, and not paying the luxury tax also met the owner's requirements, so this trade was obviously very successful for the Thunder at that time. However, no one could have predicted that after Harden arrived at the Rockets, his career directly underwent a revolutionary change, where he became a star of another level.
The specific strength of Harden during his time with the Rockets does not need to be elaborated. He won the scoring title for three consecutive years and once won the MVP, leading the Rockets to achieve the best regular-season record in team history, which is the best proof. In addition, under Harden's leadership, the Rockets reached the Western Conference Finals twice, while the Thunder without Harden also reached the Western Conference Finals twice, especially in 2016 when they were leading 3-1, they were eventually reversed by their opponents. If Harden was still there in that series, he could greatly alleviate the physical crisis of Durant and Westbrook on the offensive end.
Another key factor why the Thunder chose to trade Harden at that time was that according to a report by NBA journalist Steve Keller, after losing the finals, Harden hoped to get more ball possession in the Thunder and believed that his ability could play a more important role in the team. However, the Thunder obviously trusted Durant and Westbrook more at that time. If Harden was promoted, it would definitely affect the development of those two, so the Thunder had already diverged with Harden at this point, but it is worth noting that later Harden himself expressed in an interview that he was willing to continue to accept the sixth man position at that time.
Judging from the results, the Thunder should undoubtedly have kept Harden at that time. Without comparing him to the peak Durant, but compared to Westbrook, the peak Harden is obviously stronger, and the most important thing is considering his playing style and attendance, he is not only more compatible with Durant, but also his bottoming-out ability is more outstanding. And if these three had not been broken up and really found chemistry later, then the Thunder might really have built a dynasty-level team, and their offensive firepower at their peak can match any group of three giants in the history of the league.