It’s hard to believe, but this month marks 12 years since the Oklahoma City Thunder, fresh off an NBA Finals appearance with a core group of players in their early 20s, traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets.
It was a trade that rocked the NBA. The Thunder, with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Harden and Serge Ibaka, seemed on the doorstep of becoming the next NBA dynasty. They had reached the Finals in Harden’s third year in the NBA and despite LeBron James winning his first championship with the Miami Heat, the Thunder seemed up to the task of breaking through.
Now, more than a decade later, Harden embarks on his 16th season in the NBA and second with the L.A. Clippers. Los Angeles traded for Harden just after last season started to become the fourth team Harden had been on in as many seasons.
He’s made 10 NBA All-Star teams and is a six-time All-NBA first team selection. He’s won an MVP in 2018, earned three scoring titles and led the league in assists twice, including two seasons ago.
Yet he’s never been back to the NBA Finals since that Game 5 loss to the Heat that was ultimately his final appearance in a Thunder uniform.
Nonetheless, the man known forever for his beard, his ankle-breaking one-on-one moves and that patented step-back, left-handed 3, has no complaints about what he has achieved.
“Winning a championship is hard. It’s very, very difficult,” Harden said while talking to reporters at practice on Thursday. “You’ve got to be very, very talented. You’ve got to stay healthy and everything has got to come into place. In my career I don’t have no regrets. I’m happy where I am. I’m excited. I get to still hoop and have fun and get better and be a leader, and that’s very, very valuable to me.”
The reigning Pacific Division champions will look somewhat different this season with their second- leading scorer from last season, Paul George, opting out of his contract and signing with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Westbrook, who has played with Harden on three different NBA teams, has also moved on, but the team returns leading scorer Kawhi Leonard, who is still dealing with knee injuries that will likely keep him out of today’s game against the Golden State Warriors at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Tyronn Lue, who has taken the Clippers to the playoffs in three of his first four seasons as head coach in Los Angeles, said Thursday he isn’t asking Harden to do anything this season that he hasn’t already done in his career.
“Just the role he’s been in his whole career in Houston,” Lue said when asked what he’s seen out of Harden. “Just making sure guys are getting to the right spots, you know he’s going to be able to deliver the ball, any pass he can make to get guys open shots. Just working with the young guys, telling them where to be. He’s been great leading this young team.”
This is the Clippers’ fifth trip to Hawaii for training camp in the past eight years and the second for Lue, who recalled vividly his career-high 36 points he dropped against Virginia in the 1997 Rainbow Classic as a junior at Nebraska.
The Warriors are tipping off a six-game preseason slate with their first game in Hawaii since 2007, two years before they drafted Stephen Curry with the seventh overall pick out of Davidson.
A very limited number of tickets remained available on the Hawaii Athletics website as of 4 p.m. Friday. The cheapest ticket available on Ticketmaster was listed at $204.
