A former rival of the Oklahoma City Thunder recently revealed he almost signed with the team and why he played hard against them.

The fifth of those players did so in the Oklahoma City Thunder era, guard alum James Harden. After ending his college career at Arizona State, Harden was picked up with the third overall selection of the 2009 NBA draft by the Thunder.

All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says the Cavs loss that snapped the Thunder's 15-game win streak made them a better team. While the Thunder are on pace to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012, Lou Williams considers that to be the gap separating the two despite James Harden and the 2011-12 Thunder losing the Finals 4-1 to the Heat.

The final image of Harden as a Rocket was truly alarming. It appeared the pregame “fat suit” under his warm-ups was back, as the 2018 MVP looked nothing like you expect from an NBA player in their prime, especially a guard. Harden was traded two days later and looked entirely different in a Nets uniform for many reasons.

Oh the good old days when Kevin Durant was still leading his beloved Thunder to deep playoff runs -- most notably in 2012.

Cleveland and Oklahoma City have followed similar paths to success in the years since the departure of their franchise icons.

Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points, James Harden added 21 and the Los Angeles Clippers had the largest margin of victory in franchise history, routing the Brooklyn Nets 126-67 on Wednesday night.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could have been a dynasty if they had been able to land a former Defensive Player of the Year center.

Kawhi Leonard scored a season-high 23 points and the Los Angeles Clippers posted the largest margin of victory in franchise history by obliterating the visiting Brooklyn Nets 126-67 on Wednesday night.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder’s MVP candidate, is an All-Star lock. Williams — who is second on the team in points and assists, third in rebounds and is a versatile cog in their top-ranked and historically disruptive defense — is their only other true candidate. That might be Williams’ simplest case.

Kyrie Irving made his thoughts known about the trade that sent him from the Brooklyn Nets to the Dallas Mavericks.