Most devastating injury in Oklahoma City Thunder history: Russell Westbrook
After falling short in the 2012 NBA Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder made some major changes to their roster to avoid paying a steep tax bill in the near future. Well, they actually made just one.
They traded NBA Sixth Man of the Year James Harden to the Houston Rockets for several role players and draft picks that became future Thunder players in Alex Abrines and Steven Adams.
Harden became one of the NBA’s newest stars as the lead man in Houston, but the Thunder remained as dominant as ever in his absence. They won 60 games and were the presumptive favorites to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals for the second straight year. But Rockets guard Patrick Beverley had other ideas.
Midway through the second quarter of Game 2 of the Thunder/Rockets first-round matchup Beverley lunged toward Russell Westbrook’s legs while going for a steal. The collision resulted in Westbrook tearing his meniscus and sitting out for the rest of the playoffs.
Westbrook’s injury essentially ended the Thunder’s title hopes. Even though they got by the Rockets in six games, they ultimately fell to the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Semifinals.
As for Westbrook and Beverley, this incident sparked a longstanding feud that still burns to this day.