Dismantle the three less thunder! In 12 years, the Rockets made a big deal and gambled on Harden, what is the current situation of these nine people

David said sports

2024-05-26 16:02Published in Henan

Preface

After several years of dormancy and development, the Thunder have finally regained their life this season. The team managed to fight its way out of the West surrounded by tigers and wolves, and finished first in the division with a record of 57 wins and 25 losses. Despite losing to the Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals, the energy and performance of this group of young people still makes everyone hopeful about the future of the Thunder. Alexander + Green + Holmgren have become the absolute core of the Thunder, and their high spirits can't help but remind people of the original version of the Thunder Three Less.

The Thunder of that year had three fierce generals: Durant, Wei Shao and Harden. With the joint play of the three, the Thunder once reached the stage of the finals. But as the three's worth rises, the Thunder simply can't afford the ever-increasing player salaries. So in the 2012 offseason, the Rockets seized the opportunity to complete a big trade involving 6 players and 3 draft picks with the Thunder, and officially obtained the cornerstone of the team, Harden.

Now that 12 years have passed, how are the original chips doing?

Kevin Martin

Career honors: Two Weekly Awards

Career highs: 50 points (April 2, 2009), 9 assists (March 23, 2015)

Let's take a look at the chips paid by the Rockets first, one of the core players in this deal was Kevin Martin, the absolute main player on the outside of the Rockets at that time. Martin's career is naturally most talked about for his weird-looking but high-percentage shooting.

In the 2004 draft, Martin officially became a member of the Kings. In the six seasons that the Kings have worked hard, Martin's playoff victory over the Spurs has been the highlight of the moment. In 2010, Martin was sent to the Rockets in a big trade. In his first season with the Rockets, Martin once again staged a magical quasi-stunner to help the Rockets defeat their arch-rival Jazz.

At that time, the Rockets were in the throes of a comprehensive rebuild, and Martin shouldered the team's offensive responsibility. For two seasons in a row, Martin has been able to get 20+ stats. After becoming a member of the Thunder, Martin was more often in the role of sixth man, becoming the leading scorer on the bench.

After a brief season with the Thunder, Martin became a free agent. Since then, he has become a player for the Timberwolves and Spurs, but he has not been able to play brilliantly. After struggling for several years, Martin officially announced his retirement on November 26, 2016.

Jeremy Lamb

Career highs: 32 points (December 21, 2017), 17 rebounds (November 27, 2016)

In the 2012 draft, Lamb was selected by the Rockets with the 12th pick in the first round. He has a very well-rounded individual performance and is able to switch between guard and small forward at will. In the summer league that year, Lamb was as brave as Lu Bu, averaging 20 points per game, and maintaining a shooting rate of 46.7%, and was successfully selected for the best team of the summer league.

Lamb's performance has made the Rockets management very satisfied, but compared to Harden, who has already seen the potential of a superstar, Lamb certainly does not have any competitiveness. So not long after the rookie contract was signed, Lamb was directly packaged and sent to the Thunder. Unlike the Rockets, who were in dire need of personnel, the Thunder had no shortage of talented players at the time, so Lamb could only sit on the bench and wait for the coach's call.

In his three seasons with the Thunder, Lamb started just eight games, but his passionate performances on the court still impressed. In the 2015 offseason, Lamb officially became a member of the Hornets, which also became a very important turning point in his career. With his tireless efforts, Lamb managed to secure a consistent starting position.

In 2019, Lamb got a three-year, $31.5 million contract and became a member of the Pacers. It's a pity that after joining the team, Lamb has been suffering from injuries and has not played at all in line with his value. He then spent a brief stint with the Kings before disappearing from the NBA arena entirely.

Adams (No. 12 pick in the first round in 2013)

Career Achievement: Best Rookie Second Team

The three draft picks sent by the Rockets (two first-round picks and one second-rounder) directly allowed the Thunder to scrape a big shot. All along, the Thunder management's draft vision has been the league's first-class existence. In the 2013 draft, they targeted interior player Adams, who later proved to be the right choice.

The old-looking Adams also has a very steady style of play. Even though he is a rookie, he plays with the calm of a veteran. In his second season with the team, Adams was already in the starting line-up. He silently became a man standing behind Shuangshao, guarding the inner line of the thunder with hard work.

After leaving the Thunder, Adams became a member of the Grizzlies, a youth team, but unfortunately he began to be plagued by injuries after coming to the team. Finally, in February of this year, the Grizzlies traded him to the Rockets. It is believed that when Adams returns healthy, he will still be the most reliable player on the inside.

Alex Afrines (32nd pick in the 2013 second round)

In the 2013 draft, the Thunder used the second-round pick to acquire international player Afrines. In his three seasons with the Thunder, his highlight came against the Grizzlies. Afrines hit six three-pointers and contributed 20 points and four rebounds to help his team win a narrow victory.

After that, he returned to play in Spain and became a member of the giants Barcelona. In recent years, we can often see him appear in the international arena. In last year's Men's Basketball World Cup, he was a member of the Spanish national team.

Mitch McGarry (2014 first-round pick No. 21)

McGarry in high school was definitely the number one man in the United States, and he also staged violent moments of smashing rebounds in the game. In the national ranking given by ESPN, McGarry is ranked second. Such a player was naturally favored by several universities, and eventually he chose to become a member of the University of Michigan.

Unfortunately, due to injury, McGarry missed almost the entire sophomore semester. He was originally going to return full of blood in his junior year, but he was punished by the NCAA with a one-year ban because he failed the drug test. In the end, McGarry chose to participate in the 2014 draft, which constantly unexpectedly made him very low in the ranking.

In his third game with the Thunder, McGarry handed in a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, which made fans look forward to the young man. But McGarry hasn't played well enough since then, and after a few years of back-and-forth between the Development League and the Thunder, he was officially cut by the team in 2016 and has since disappeared from view.

Cole Aldridge

With that out of the way, let's take a look at the three players the Thunder used as chips at the time. The first is Aldridge, who was also an absolute man in high school, winning the Minnesota Player of the Year and being selected for the 2006 McDonald's All-American High School Star Game.

During his three years at the University of Kansas, he helped the team win one NCAA league championship. And in the 2008-09 season, he had a triple-double of 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocks. With unlimited expectations, he officially chose to participate in the NBA Draft in 2010.

After becoming an NBA player, Aldridge clearly couldn't adapt to the pace of the game. After playing for several teams, he was officially cut by the Hawks in 2018 and said goodbye to the NBA game for good.

He then became a member of the NBA team Tianjin Ronggang.

Lazar Hayward

There's really not much to say about Hayward's career, averaging just 1.4 points per game in his two years with the Thunder. After becoming a chip and being traded to the Rockets, he was sent to the Timberwolves non-stop, but unfortunately he was cut directly after only 4 games with the Wolves.

Daquin Cook

In 2007, Cook participated in the draft. It is worth mentioning that he was one of the most effective helpers around Auden during his college years. After he was drafted by the 76ers, he was sent directly to the Heat non-stop. During his time with the team, Cook's biggest surprise was winning the All-Star Game three-point title in 2009.

After coming to the Thunder, he followed Sanshao to successfully win the Western Conference championship, and he also had an addiction to participating in the Finals. After that, he played for the Rockets and the Bulls, and finally Cook, who had no place in the NBA, chose to come to Europe and become a member of the Ukrainian league.

In general, the 9 big deals involved that year, the current 8 people are no longer playing in the NBA, and only Adams is left to continue to fight for the championship dream, and he is also the player with the best performance and statistics among the several.

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