Raps' pick from the Lowry trade, plus two rooks Raps fans loved are now with OKC

[Nilanka]

1. You really think he can make more money as a star (probably) on a lottery team (Houston) than a KEY contributor on a championship team for many years (OKC)?
2. I was under impression players want to be on contenders even if it means less money?
3. Am I missing something or did I miss Harden "disappearing" when it counted (in the finals)?
4. Hungry K Mart with less pressure to be the man (because of Westbrook & Durant) will be deadly. So, he is not a great defender - that's why you have Perkins & Ibaka. Also, K Mart in contract year. Could be interesting.
All in all IMHO incredible deal for OKC (and good for us I suppose -much less competition for Gay).

Why assume that all players think the same way?

[tkfu]

1. You really think he can make more money as a star (probably) on a lottery team (Houston) than a KEY contributor on a championship team for many years (OKC)?

Waaaaay more money, yeah. Houston can give him an extra max year that OKC couldn't, so that's about $18-20 million guaranteed right there.

But more importantly, Houston's currently the second most popular basketball team in China, and with Lin they look poised to retake that undisputed top spot they had during the Yao years. Even minor Rocket players made millions more in endorsements than they would have anywhere else when Yao was around. Chuck Freaking Hayes has multi-millions in Chinese endorsements.

James Harden is hella marketable. Financially this is great for him.

[Hugmenot]

Way too early to tell but Harden looked pretty darn good in his first game.

[Soft Euro]

Considering Harden's stats per 36 last year (including efficiency and especially his stats without Durant and Westbrook) and considering a max contract after a rookie contract is something different than a max contract for veterans and considering the the contracts being handed out to players like Lin,DeRozan et al, I don't see why Harden wouldn't be worth a max contract.

[NoPropsneeded]

Now that OKC and Toronto love eachother. Maybe OKC should give us a gift of friend ship? how bout Landry fields for Kevin Durant? hahaha