The Los Angeles Clippers sent away Robert Covington, Marcus Morris Sr., Nicolas Batum, and Kenyon Martin Jr. to acquire James Harden, P.J. Tucker, and Filip Petrusev from the Philadelphia 76ers. This reunited Harden with two-time former teammate Russell Westbrook.
From getting drafted by the same franchise to reuniting all these years later on their third team, this is the only pair of former MVPs that keep gravitating toward each other as teammates.
Given both players are still chasing a championship, let’s analyze what happened at their previous two stints as teammates.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Harden and Westbrook were drafted by the same franchise one year apart, as the Thunder selected Westbrook in the 2008 Draft and then Harden in the 2009 Draft. They played on the Thunder together until 2012, even making the 2012 NBA Finals together but they lost against the Heat.
Due to a pay and role dispute, Harden would leave Westbrook and Kevin Durant to run his own team in Houston, as the other MVP duo continued contending with the Thunder for years to come.
Harden blossomed into a perennial All-Star and eventually an MVP, a distinction Westbrook had also hit with the Thunder. However, the Thunder’s lack of success after Durant left the franchise put them in a tough spot until 2019, when they finally traded Westbrook away. They sent him to the Rockets for Chris Paul, reuniting Harden with Westbrook, but with Russ as the secondary star this time.
Harden averaged 12.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in three seasons alongside Westbrook, whereas Westbrook averaged 20.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists during this time.
Houston Rockets
The Rockets paid a heavy price for Westbrook when they acquired him, trading four first-round picks along with Chris Paul to the Thunder for what they assumed was still an MVP-caliber player. The 2019-20 season is the last season Westbrook made the NBA All-Star team, as the Rockets maximized their supercharged backcourt by playing P.J. Tucker as a 6’5″ stretch-five to keep the paint open for Westbrook and Harden.
This duo lasted only one season together, with Harden contending for MVP and Westbrook having the last elite season of his career. The team couldn’t compete in the playoffs and would promptly trade Westbrook to the Wizards and Harden to the Nets a few weeks into the 2020-21 season.
Russ was averaging 27.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists until the COVID shutdown, with injuries and illnesses plaguing him during the 2020 Bubble. Harden had his last season where he averaged over 30 points per game, averaging 34.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 7.5 assists, finishing as an MVP finalist behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James.
Los Angeles Clippers
After four seasons apart, Harden and Westbrook will team up once again with the Clippers. This time, it looks like we’ll see the OKC dynamic between them return but with the roles flipped. Instead of Harden being the sixth man for Westbrook, the Clippers could use Westbrook as the sixth man with Harden starting alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. If not this, they’ll likely play the way they did in Houston as the starting backcourt of the franchise, with George at the three and Leonard at the four.
Tucker is also with the pair again, but his days starting at center are definitely behind him with the elite big-man talent in the NBA right now. Ivica Zubac and Mason Plumlee are not high-velocity rollers to the rim that’ll finish wild lobs that Harden and Westbrook throw, so both guards will have to adjust to a new style of play that allows everyone to succeed.
They aren’t the top two or top three stars on the franchise, as Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will be the ones deciding how far the Clippers can go. But having a playmaker like Harden and a battery-pack like Westbrook off the bench, the Clippers might be the stop where they finally realize their dream of being NBA Champions together.
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