From today’s perspective, it’s not hard to state that the Oklahoma City Thunder had a real gem in their locker room whose potential they never fully utilized. Of course, we’re talking about the trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
These are players who in their careers won a total of three MVP awards, nine scoring titles and five assists titles. A more potent offensive trio on the same team has probably never been seen in the league, but the fact remains that they ultimately didn’t manage to bring OKC the first championship in franchise history.
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Their veteran from those days, Kendrick Perkins, recalled on the “Straight Game” podcast that the relationship between the two biggest stars at that time wasn’t heading in the right direction.
“Did they see eye to eye with KD and Russ? No, they didn’t see eye to eye… Now we had arguments, scraps, debates every f*ing day with the Celtics. But when I got to OKC, it was something there that I’ve never seen before,” Perkins stressed.
“As far as a bunch of young guys trying to find their way, but at that time, each guy had their partners with them. They partners was breaking up s** that could have been a lot stronger. And so they weren’t f—ing with each other outside of the court, but between those lines, it was them because they was that special. You know what I’m saying? So it was certain things that you could address, but it was a blessing,” he added.
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The off-court relationship was lacking
From Perk’s words, it’s easy to read how, despite the great chemistry on the court, the off-court relationship was strained to say the least. If we consider the fact that they haven’t played together for nine years now, yet they are third on the list of duos who have assisted each other the most in NBA history, with 1738 assists, just 109 fewer than the leading duo of Tony Parker and Tim Duncan and right behind John Stockton and Karl Malone, it’s clear how high the ceiling of that OKC team was.
However, after Durant’s move to the Golden State Warriors, the animosity between him and Westbrook was in full swing. Kevin left the OKC because of Russell’s ballhogging tendency, which he believed was holding them back from going all the way.
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“Durant wanted an offense that kept the ball moving and provided him easier scoring chances,” the report said. “The Thunder fired coach Scott Brooks, brought in Billy Donovan, and still the offense stalled out at key moments, often with Westbrook dribbling into oblivion.”
Different brands of basketball
Two pure hoopers — one a freak of nature and maybe the most athletic guard the league has ever seen, the other one of the most graceful and smoothest players of all time. No matter how good they were, and no matter how committed they were to the ultimate goal, they saw the game in very different ways.
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Perhaps the best illustration of how strongly their desire for the Larry O’Brien Trophy pulled them is that, despite really strong team results, they still felt something in their chemistry was missing to go all the way. That bothered them so much that it affected their off-court relationship, as Perkins himself confirmed.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 11, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.