Getty Kevin Durant's Golden State Warriors meet James Harden's Houston Rockets in the NBA playoffs for a second straight year.
Before they went toe-to-toe in Round 2 of the NBA Playoffs as members of the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, respectively, James Harden and Kevin Durant were teammates.
Harden and Durant were once members of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Alongside Russell Westbrook, the two led young Thunder squad to the 2012 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.
OKC would lose, but boy did they have talent.
They also had Serge Ibaka on that team.
If you’re keeping score at home: Oklahoma City had the second-best player in the league, a top 10 player, a top 20 player — both of whom look like future MVP candidates — and a reliable rim protector…all 24 years old and younger.
Per writer, Brad Callas at Medium:
Now in the final year of his contract, Harden spent the preseason negotiating a new contract with Thunder General Manager, Sam Presti.
Presti’s dilemma is this: Since he is already paying Durant and Westbrook “max” money, while shelling out $12 million a year for Serge Ibaka, paying Harden what he wants means that he would also have to pay the luxury tax. After dancing around the subject since the summer, both sides reach a mutual agreement: they will let it play out until the following summer, giving Harden the opportunity to test free agency, while Presti retains for himself the option to match any max offer Harden receives.
Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets, Westbrook is still a member of the Thunder and Durant would eventually sign with the Golden State Warriors.
Undoubtedly, that trio learned a lot from each other.
“The game is so different now,” Bonzi Wells told NBA scribe, Landon Buford of USA Today.
“When we played, everyone had to touch the ball in order to stay in rhythm. In today’s game there is so much iso ball, –now don’t get me wrong we would play iso ball may be in the post — If we caught the big with the right matchup on a switch, but for 48 minutes of a guy just dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, and then your hoping he will hit a 23 or 24 challenged three-pointer. I don’t know if I could take a steady diet of that, but that is what the game is going to now. These guys are so highly skilled, and they work on their games so much they make them.”
Wells is highly regarded by Portland Trail Blazers fans.
Remember Wells’ heroics on April 23, 2003, when Wells set a Trail Blazers playoff record with 45 points against Dallas in the first round?
Wells played for Trail Blazers for six seasons, where he averaged 13.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
The Blazers traded for Wells’ draft rights from the Detroit Pistons, who took him eleventh overall out of Ball State.
The Blazers would send the Pistons their first round pick the following year.
“The Ice George Gervin said one heck of a quote: ‘There are guys like Kevin Durant and James Harden, who have made more 11-foot jump shots than layups,” recounted Wells.
“It crazy that they have these guys are just so good that these jumpers are almost layups to them. I love the scoring and the style, but I don’t know if it is my type of game. As a player, I need to touch the ball too to stay in a rhythm just in case a guy like James goes down. I would be in the same rhythm as him so I would be able to pick some the slack.”