"I Know LeBron Was So Fucking Happy We Weren't Together Anymore 'Cause We Were On Their Ass" - Kevin Durant And James Harden Finally Opened Up About The Infamous Harden Trade To Houston

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As a fan, you always think the window of your favorite team will be open forever. Especially when that team is made up of a bunch of young players who prove to be awesome right away. You start thinking about how awesome the next 10 years of your life are going to be and how the team you're currently watching is going to dominate the league for the foreseeable future. You can find ways to cope with tough losses because you convince your brain it's no big deal, considering how young your team is, and that you'll have plenty of swings in future seasons. 

Sadly, that's not exactly how things actually work in the NBA. In reality, your window is never as long as you might think. While there are exceptions here and there, for the most part, things end much more abruptly than you expect as a fan. It's why when you truly have a special group and have a real opportunity to win and make history, you can't fumble it. You're always one injury, one trade, one bad bounce away from things ultimately not going the way you may have thought at the start of your window.

One of the best cases of this in recent NBA history is, of course, the 2012 Thunder. You know, this group

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Back in 2011-12, this Thunder group was largely considered as a team that was going to be "next". The year prior they had lost in the WCF to the Mavs, and during the next season you may remember they finally broke through and made the Finals, losing to Miami LeBron & Co in 5 games. Given how they were trending, it wasn't exactly a stretch to suggest OKC was about to become the next power, with Harden winning 6MOY, KD was solidified as a 1st Team All NBA/MVP level guy, Westbrook had made 2nd team All NBA, and Serge Ibaka came in second in DPOY and was 2nd Team All Defense. They were all young, they were all having both individual and team success, and I'm sure every Thunder fan was certain we were watching the next NBA dynasty.

Then this happened

Safe to say, this ended up being a rather league-altering trade, and really the first domino to fall when it came to this team being broken up. Eventually, Serge Ibaka was traded, KD left for GS, and Westbrook was ultimately traded as well. The Thunder never made it back to the Finals until 2025, and that's why their winning the title last season was so huge. They did what the 2012 Thunder could not, which was to maximize their opportunity. Who knows how long their window will ultimately be given the new CBA, but at least they got their ring.

One thing we hadn't really heard over the years was guys like KD and Harden open up about this trade, until now. Of all the reasons Netflix's Starting 5 is incredible, hearing both players share their thoughts on that trade was one of the best parts of the entire series

Now if you put any stock into what Perk had to say about the whole situation since he was there, a lot of what happened was a result of LeBron and the 2012 Olympic team

 I can absolutely believe that. LeBron is no dummy. He knew what OKC was building after getting an up close look at them in the 2012 Finals. So what do you do? You plant the seed that Harden needs his own team. One of the biggest reasons why players/teams break up is Pat Riley's "Disease Of More". The focus being on more money, more shots, more playing itme, more individual success and awards, all of that goes against everything required to win at a high level and for a group to stay together. For that to happen, it requires sacrifice from EVERYONE. Just look at the teams that win and stick together for a long time, that's the most common theme when it comes to the fabric of their success.

Should OKC have just ponied up and paid whatever it took to keep Harden? Probably. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best decision to cheap out over a couple million dollars when you're talking about JAMES HARDEN, but that's the thing about the NBA. Things that might make sense to us as fans, it's never that easy in reality. As a result, that era of the Thunder became more known as the Dynasty That Never Was, as opposed to what we all thought they were going to be when we were living it.