10 Greatest NBA What-Ifs in the 2000s

#1 What if James Harden never left OKC?

These three together would dominate the league today

The decision to trade James Harden to Houston in 2012 will forever be a black mark on GM Sam Presti's career and is widely considered one of the worst moves of the century.

The 2011-12 Thunder had the potential to be an amazing dynasty. They made it to the NBA Finals, Durant and Westbrook received All-NBA honors, Ibaka was First Team All-Defensive and Harden was Sixth Man of the Year.

So why break this up?

Both Harden and Ibaka were a year away from contract renewal, and if both players' salary requests had met, OKC would have had to pay luxury tax. Eventually, the team decided to extend Ibaka's contract and trade away Harden to avoid going above the tax-line

Since Harden was one of the top scorers every season and became a regular in MVP conversations. OKC never managed to make it to the finals again, parting ways with both Ibaka and Durant four years later.

Just imagine a team of three MVP-level scoring machines and a defensive beast, playing in their prime. Sounds a little bit like modern-day Golden State. That could have happened earlier in Oklahoma, but apparently, it wasn’t worth the tax.

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