NBA legend Reggie Miller feels Kevin Durant and James Harden should be honored by the Oklahoma City Thunder team for their contributions during the ‘Baby Thunder’ era. Miller believes the OKC Thunder should retire the jersey numbers for Durant, Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka.
The Oklahoma City Thunder played the Houston Rockets in the season opener for the respective franchises. It was a thrilling game that went to a second overtime and finished at 125-124 in the Thunder’s favor.
During the controversial game between the two potential championship contenders, Miller was broadcasting Durant’s return to his debut franchise when he offered his opinion.
“Nick is gonna have company within the next five to seven years. Russell Westbrook should be retired here. Kevin Durant, though unpopular, should be retired here. Serge Ibaka, I think, should be retired here. James Harden, I think, should be retired here.” Miller said.
In this game against the Thunder, Durant had 23 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Although it wasn’t his box scores that wreaked havoc, but a miscalculated timeout call before the game went into double overtime. Additionally, Durant’s foul on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the final seconds of the second overtime cost them the game.
The conversation around the rafters started as the defending champs put up their own championship banner on the Paycom Center’s rafters. Up there, the broadcasters also saw Nick Collison’s name, a lifelong Thunder fixture, who had been with the team from their Seattle SuperSonics days. He was the only player whose number was retired by the Thunder organization.
Miller sees Durant and Harden also going up there. Let’s keep the focus on these two, because Westbrook and Ibaka have a strong case without much contention.
During the 2011-12 season, Durant was the primary scorer, Westbrook was on his way to becoming a walking triple-double, and Harden was a force off the bench. They faced the mighty Big Three from the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, and a determined LeBron James took over the series that year.
But it marked one of the most successful stints in their short history. Before their NBA Championship win last season, this was their best performance. Durant also won the MVP with them in the 2013-14 season, averaging 32.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 5.5 assists.
During his nine seasons with the team, he averaged 27.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 38% from three-point range. He acted as a franchise cornerstone for the OKC Thunder’s evolution from a relocated team to a perennial contender in the Western Conference.
However, he also exited the team in such a contentious manner that most of the Thunder’s loyalists don’t want to associate positive memories with the superstar.
The OKC Thunder team was coming off a 3-1 collapse to the Golden State Warriors in 2016 when Durant announced that he was going to join the Warriors in a letter with the Players’ Tribune titled, ‘My Next Chapter.’It was an eloquently put together explanation of why he thought it was best for him to move on from the team where he developed into one of the best scorers in modern NBA.
But fans felt betrayed and abandoned by his decision. Therefore, it marred his legacy with the Thunder franchise, and thus, even though on paper, the former league MVP is the perfect fit for the honor Miller is suggesting, it might not be received well by the NBA world at large and the Thunder’s fanbase specifically.
Harden, on the other hand, has a much simpler case. He won the Sixth Man of the Year in 2012 with the franchise, handling a more secondary scoring role. He averaged 12.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while shooting 37% from beyond the arc over 220 games with the franchise.
Only playing three seasons with them, it is very difficult to take his consideration seriously. Yes, he went on to become an MVP and an offensive maestro, but he was still in his developmental phase when he was with the Thunder.
Now, the argument becomes whether he should be judged based on his time with the team or his overall career. And if the Thunder management looks at his case, they will see that even though he started showing glimpses of his evolved self early in his career, his contributions during that time aren’t enough to warrant a spot in the rafters.
