The Oklahoma City Thunder and James Harded are getting closer and closer to a deal, according to Kendrick Perkins. Perkins was interviewed after a Thunder Fit Clinic on Wednesday and said the two sides were working on a deal that would lock up Harden.

"We're doing good. We're making positive steps going forward," Perkins said of a possible extension in the works for the 2011 Sixth Man of the Year.

"We're getting close to keeping our unit together. And we're still hungry."

By the "unit," Perkins is referring to the young stars the Thunder possess. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are turning 24 at the end of the year. Harden will be turning 24 in 2013. Serge Ibaka, who is the youngest, will turn 23 in a few days.

This core of players has helped the Thunder improve year after year as they have meshed and played all the way into the NBA Finals this past season.

Perkins himself is only going to be 28 and almost reaching his prime.

Rumors swirled that the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets were interested in James Harden. Who could blame them?  Harden is a starter in any other club as he has averaged 16.8 points a game and was a 39 percent three-point shooter in 2011-2012. 

If Perkins reports are true of an extension, Harden would be a part of a Thunder organization that has already extended their head coach Scott Brooks and Ibaka received an extension recently. 

They are dangerous for teams like the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers because the are "hungry" and have many years of basketball ahead of them