As you all know, the free market has been open for many days.
At present, the vast majority of big-name free agents, such as Paul George, Harden, and OG Anunoby, have found their next home, and among the many signings, there is such a one, although the attention is not so high, but it directly makes up for the weakest link in the West, yes, we are talking about Harden joining the Thunder.
Harden certainly won't be a top-10 free agent this summer (including restricted free agents), but he is definitely the second choice at center, and the only one who is better than him is probably Claxton, who signed a four-year, $100 million contract with the Nets before the free agency market opened.
So, when the free market opened, those teams that needed interior players quickly set their sights on Harden, and of course the Knicks didn't want to lose him, so the Knicks offered a four-year, 72.5 million contract.
Since the Knicks only have Harden's early bird, this is already the largest contract that the Knicks can offer, and they have never withdrawn the offer from beginning to end, so the sincerity is quite good.
Harden was also interested in staying in New York, however, when the Thunder offered a three-year, $87 million contract, the suspense disappeared.
Let's talk about Harden's situation first, last season, due to Miro's absence from a large number of games, Harden got more opportunities, he played in a total of 75 regular season games, 49 starts, averaged 25.3 minutes per game, got 7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and also had 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks, shooting 64.4%.
As a comparison, in the 22-23 season, also in the Knicks, Harden played full-time, only 8 starts, averaged 19.8 minutes per game, scored 5.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists, and shot 53.5% from the field.
In the playoffs, Harden's performance was even better, and in all of the Knicks' 13 playoff games this year, Harden started all of them, averaging 29.8 minutes per game, handing over 8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists, and shooting 59.2% from the field.
Among them, in the series against the Pacers, Harden played amazingly many times, such as G2, Hatten handed over 14 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists in the quasi-triple-double, and for example, G5 Tianwang Mountain, Harden only scored 7 points in the whole game, but grabbed 17 rebounds, 12 of which were frontcourt rebounds, which was simply explosive.
Harden is 2.13 meters tall and has an arm span of 2.19 meters, he is a modern blue-collar center who doesn't have much offensive ability, scoring mainly by eating cakes and secondary offenses, and has excellent defense, with a very good focus on rebounding:
- 16.5% rebounding rate in the regular season, 19th in the league
- 12.9% pre-regular season rate, 6th in the league
- 14.0% rebounding rate in the playoffs, 14th in the league
- 12.7% pre-playoff rate, 4th in the league
And rebounding is the biggest weakness of the Thunder.
In the regular season last season, the Thunder ranked 27th in the league in rebounds per game and 29th in the league in the number of rebounds per game, and in the playoffs, these two numbers were clearly only ranked 10th and 12th among all 16 teams, which was quite unsatisfactory.
This is especially true in the series against the Mavericks, where the Thunder lose an average of 4.7 rebounds per game, and after six games, the Thunder grabbed a total of 16 fewer frontcourt rebounds than the Mavericks - the difference in strength between the two sides in this round is not very large, and the Thunder mainly lose in experience and rebounding.
Chet is very good, 2.16 meters tall, he showed an extremely good frame in the first year, and he is not afraid of physical contact, but he is a rookie after all, and his body is on the thin side, so he is not good at fighting;
The arrival of Harden can directly improve the Thunder's interior size disadvantage, and he is very good at fighting, and he can also protect the frame, and there will be no compatibility problems with Chet, next season Chet will change to the No. 4 position, and the defense can be swept more freely, maybe he can achieve better results on both offensive and defensive ends.
Of course, there are also things to worry about, after all, Harden only broke out once in the contract year, in case of a pullback in the season level, there may be a premium risk, but Harden is only 26 years old, is at his peak, and is perfectly suited to the Thunder, and will not decline too much if it declines.
It needs to be said that the contract that the Thunder gave to Harden is also very particular, 30 million in the first year, and then decreasing year by year, and there is no guarantee in the last year, which is also in line with the salary structure of the Thunder - next season the Thunder can still eat the rookie dividends of Holmgren and Jewei, there is no pressure, and when the two need to get a big contract, Harden has entered the last year of the contract.
As you can see, signing Harden is the perfect move for the Thunder in free agency, both in terms of fit and salary structure, and the Thunder's offseason operations are more than that.
Before free agency opened, they sent Giddey to the Bulls in exchange for Caruso, a well-known perimeter defensive stalwart who shot 40.8 percent from three-point range last season and was an absolute 3-and-D.
In addition, the Thunder also renewed the contract of two young people on the team, Aaron Wiggins for 5 years and 47 million for Aaron Wiggins, and Isaiah Joe for 4 years and 48 million, both of whom performed very well in the regular season last year, especially three-point shooting, with shooting rates of 49.2% and 41.6% respectively.
Considering that the new broadcast contract is about to come into force, these two contracts are not expensive at all - times have changed, and it is absolutely not a loss to be able to get this level of rotation with an annual salary of tens of millions in four or five years.
Next season, the Thunder can put Alexander + Jayway + Holmgren + Caruso + Harden as the starters, and there are also Dort + Carson Wallace + Aaron Wiggins + Isaiah Joe + Jaelin We, of which Harden and Dort can be adjusted with the opponent's lineup.
Last season's Thunder were already No. 1 in the West, this roster is more balanced than last season, and the young people have tasted the playoffs once, and there is reason to believe that they can get even better in the new season, wait and see.