James Harden: Why Oklahoma City Thunder Would Be Foolish To Let Him Go

Photo Credit: Angel Blue, Flickr.com

James Harden isn’t the Oklahoma City Thunder’s best player. He isn’t even their second-best player. Behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, it’s not even unreasonable to assume he’ll never be better than their third-best player. But, if they want to compete for the NBA championship, he could be the difference between winning and losing.

Harden’s contract is up at the end of the 2012-13 season, and he’s set to become a restricted free agent. The new CBA rules allow the player’s original team to give him an extension for five years, whereas he’ll only be able to get four years from another team.

There’s no doubt that someone out there will offer Harden a max-level contract. Teams like Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Utah or Cleveland will be chomping at the bit, waiting to lure Harden away from the Thunder.

The question of whether or not Harden is worthy of a max contract isn’t really a question at all. He had a poor 2012 NBA Finals, but aside from that, he’s been tremendous, and he’s gotten better every single year. Take a look at his career so far.

Season	Age	G	GS	MP	FG%	3P%	FT%	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2009-10	20	76	0	22.9	.403	.375	.808	3.2	1.8	1.1	0.3	1.4	2.6	9.9
2010-11	21	82	5	26.7	.436	.349	.843	3.1	2.1	1.1	0.3	1.3	2.5	12.2
2011-12	22	62	2	31.4	.491	.390	.846	4.1	3.7	1.0	0.2	2.2	2.4	16.8
Career		220	7	26.7	.444	.370	.835	3.4	2.5	1.1	0.3	1.6	2.5	12.7

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/11/2012.

You can see his improvement, and the fact that he’s only 23 means he’s got plenty of time to grow.

From the Thunder’s standpoint, they could argue that they don’t want to have the burden of lofty luxury tax payments hanging over their head. While I understand that notion, I also understand that the value of the club rises exponentially when a team wins the NBA championship.

The argument of small-market teams holds some weight, as they don’t get the same kind of revenues from media outlets and their ticket revenues aren’t as high. However, with the NBA being a global brand, it’s not like they can’t market their stars just as well as other teams.

Take a look at the San Antonio Spurs. They’re a great example of a small market that has kept their players together despite the luxury tax, and they continue to turn a profit and contend.

If the Thunder decide to let Harden walk at the end of 2012-13, or even decide to trade him in the middle of the season, they’re going to regret it. Sure, they’ll save some luxury tax payments, but they’ll also save themselves some court time. As in, they won’t have to worry about playing basketball in June. They can watch the 2013 NBA Finals from home.

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