OKC Thunder trade Harden to Rockets

OKLAHOMA CITY - Reuters

James Harden (R) was a part of the gold medal winning United States team in the 2012 Olympic Games. AP photo

The Oklahoma City Thunder traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets on Oct. 27 after the Western Conference champions were unable to reach an extension agreement with NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.

In the multi-player trade, the Thunder acquired guards Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb, two first round picks and a second round pick while center Cole Aldrich and forwards Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward went the other way along with Harden.

No deal
Thunder general manager Sam Presti said that the team wanted to keep Harden, but they were unable to reach an extension agreement.

“We wanted to sign James to an extension, but at the end of the day, these situations have to work for all those involved,” Presti said in a statement. “Our ownership group again showed their commitment to the organisation with several significant offers.”

“We were unable to reach a mutual agreement and therefore executed a trade that capitalized on the opportunity to bring in a player of Kevin’s calibre, a young talent like Jeremy and draft picks, which will be important to our organisational goal of a sustainable team. We appreciate James, Cole, Daequan and Lazar’s contributions to the Thunder organisation and this community and wish them the best in the future.”

In helping the Thunder reach the NBA Finals, James Harden averaged 16.8 points and 3.7 assists last season, and later joined teammates Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the gold-medal winning United States Olympic basketball team.