Oklahoma City Thunder

A reunion between the Oklahoma City Thunder and James Harden would be a great storyline across the NBA and prove beneficial to the Thunder as they look to use their massive pile of draft assets to rebuild quickly. Now, James Harden most likely will not want to be a part of a rebuild, but with close to 20 first-round picks over the next seven years, the Oklahoma City Thunder have a lot of options with where they can go with this franchise.

It is very hard to believe that the Thunder will keep every single first-round pick they now own, but it is expected they will look to acquire a top player in the league with their draft capital. If they can keep 5-6 of these first-round picks, as well as bring in another high caliber, All-Star player to pair with acquiring James Harden, the Thunder are all of a sudden back as a top team in the Western Conference. 

Out of everybody on the Thunder’s roster, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort seem like the only two players who will not be on the move in the foreseeable future. Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari, Steven Adams, and Dennis Schroder are all gone and the Thunder are completely flipping this roster— providing plenty of assets to send to the Houston Rockets.

Adding James Harden to the rebuild, along with another superstar player the Thunder may pursue, such as Bradley Beal, Victor Oladpio, Zach LaVine or even Giannis Antetokounmpo, would give OKC two key players to pair with youthful talent with a lot of potential for growth. It is not crazy to think the Thunder are scheming something up with all of the draft capital they own and as a result, could look to bring back James Harden.