The Thunder signed Harden for three years and $87 million.
That way, the Thunder can assemble a starting lineup of Alexander, Caruso, Jalen Williams, Chet and Harden next season.
Harden is the starting center for the Knicks in this year's playoffs, averaging 30 minutes per game, contributing 8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists, with a true shooting rate of 64.2%.
It is worth mentioning that the Knicks also wanted to keep Harden, with an offer of $72.5 million for four years.
Helplessly, an annual salary of $29 million is obviously more attractive than an annual salary of $18 million.
However, the final year of Harden's new contract with the Thunder is not guaranteed.
Hatten is the No. 43 pick in the second round of the 17th, and the same pick as Zhou Qi in the 16th, and both of them are Rockets.
In this way, Zhou Qi is still Harden's predecessor, and when the big devil sets foot on the NBA stage, the latter can only wait for opportunities in the development league.
However, winning first is not winning, obviously Hatten successfully counterattacked Zhou Qi, and now he is the big winner.
I don't want to be sarcastic.
In competitive sports, there are winners, and naturally there will be losers, which is a normal thing.
But from the perspective of a Chinese fan, Zhou Qi is the complete loser in the competition with Hatten, and he really doesn't feel good in his heart.
Straight to the point.
The Thunder have made a lot of moves this offseason, and basically all of them are targeted reinforcements.
Giddey, who was reluctant to play off the bench and had a ball conflict with Alexander, was first traded for Caruso from the Bulls.
The legendary Bald Mamba, who has been named to the All-Defensive Team for the second year in a row, will undoubtedly greatly enhance the team's defensive depth.
Moreover, Caruso is currently the only member of the Thunder team with a championship.
As the No. 1 player in the West in the regular season last season, the Thunder is no longer an elephant that can no longer hide behind a small tree, and the future goal will definitely be to hit the championship.
Therefore, the addition of Caruso also brought the most missing championship gene to the whole team.
As for Harden's arrival, it is even more wonderful, directly strengthening the weakest link of the Thunder.
In the second round of the Western Conference in this year's playoffs, the Thunder was defeated by the Mavericks and went out in 6 games.
The main reason for the Thunder's defeat was that Chet was the only one guarding the inside line at that time, and he was completely blown up by the Mavericks and a group of macho men.
According to statistics, the Thunder averaged 41.5 rebounds per game in the playoffs this year, ranking 10th, including 8.7 offensive rebounds per game, ranking 12th.
All of them are at the middle and lower levels, and the special offensive rebounds are on the verge of the bottom.
And the new recruit Harden is a master of frontcourt boards, and in the second round of the Eastern Conference G5 in this year's playoffs, he grabbed 17 boards in a single game, including 12 frontcourt boards.
At the same time, it can be seen that this is why the Thunder are willing to spend a lot of money, and even look like a premium contract to sign Harden.
After Thunder general manager Presti, a fierce and precise operation, he finally formed a near-perfect lineup with no weaknesses.
Anyway, the ingredients look very good, how can you make a full banquet, the next thing is up to the coaching staff.
If you can produce a wonderful chemistry, maybe you can really shout those five words out loud.
With the addition of two strong reinforcements, and the continuous development of young players in the squad.
Next season's Thunder is definitely promising, and it is not a fantasy to hit the championship.
The premise is to stay healthy, and there are a lot of teams that have high hopes that have fallen on top of injuries.
For example, the clipper ship that has just disintegrated, with George leaving, the supercarrier is gradually sinking to the bottom of the sea!