The Oklahoma City Thunder will begin life post-James Harden Thursday night as they travel to San Antonio to face the Spurs.
Harden, the reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year, was relentless last season as the Thunder beat the Spurs in the Western Conference finals. Harden averaged 18.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists a game during the six-game series.
This time around the Thunder will be missing Harden's contribution as he is now a member of the Houston Rockets, via trade.
In return for Harden, the Thunder received Kevin Martin and rookie Jeremy Lamb from Houston, as well as rookie draft pick Perry Jones. Martin averaged 17.1 points last season and more than 20 in each of the previous five campaigns. Lamb, the No. 12 overall pick in this year's draft, helped lead Connecticut to an NCAA title in 2011.
Though the decision to trade Harden was difficult, general manager Sam Presti said the Thunder still expect to contend for the title.
"With the group that we have, they've been through a lot together and they've won a lot of games together. So, for us, of course we're always going to feel like we've got a chance to do good things," Presti said. "However, I would also add that it's never been our approach to do a lot of talking about what it is we're going to do or who we are.
"I think we're at a point as a franchise where we have to do what we say."
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