The case was solved 13 years later! The reason for the disintegration of the Third Young Master of Thunder was revealed! Salary is not the core issue

Recently, when former Thunder center Perkins was a guest on a show, he talked about the issue of Harden's departure in the summer of 2012. At that time, the Thunder had just reached the finals and lost to the Heat in the finals. Also this summer, Harden needs to complete the contract renewal with the Thunder management. At the same time, Harden, Durant and Westbrook were also selected for the United States team and went to London to participate in the Olympics. Perkins said that at that time, both James and Wade encouraged Harden to leave and become a core player on a new team, rather than continuing as the sixth man in the Thunder.

It is worth mentioning that the Heat formed the Big Three in the summer of 2011 and reached the finals in the first season of the group, and then completed the championship in the second season. After Harden left the Thunder, it was not until today 13 years later that the Thunder reached the finals again. After Harden left the Thunder, the Spurs reached the Finals for two consecutive seasons, with their opponents being the Heat. In fact, many media believe that Harden chose to leave the team because the total contract was reduced by $4 million. In fact, the idea of ​​leaving the Thunder had already emerged as early as the Olympics.

It turns out that Harden left the Thunder is correct on a personal level. In the Rockets' eight seasons, Harden has won the scoring champion four times, one assist champion once, one regular season MVP, and has made it to the playoffs for eight consecutive years. Harden was undoubtedly successful in the Rockets, better than before and after he joined the team. In fact, in the summer of 2023, Harden also wanted to return to the Rockets, but Rockets head coach Uduka asked Harden to go to other teams to pursue the championship instead of accompanying the Rockets to rebuild. However, Harden has not won the championship in the past two seasons, but the Rockets are already the second-ranked team in the West.