Back in 2012, there was a time when a core of three future NBA superstars were on the same Oklahoma City squad: forward Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors, guard James Harden of the Houston Rockets and guard Russell Westbrook still tearing it up for OKC to this day. Both Durant and Westbrook have won the NBA Most Valuable Player award, with Harden the frontrunner for the 2018 MVP.
Will Harden take home the hardware in June? According to an interview with Warriors beat reporter Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Durant has no doubt in his mind that Harden is the MVP of the 2017-18 season.
“It's his turn,” Durant said. “Just give it to him. It's his time to win it.”
When he was asked by Slater if he could name the other team that, at some point, had three guys at the same time who had won an MVP, Durant correctly guessed it was the Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Karl Malone.
Durant reminisced back to his days in Oklahoma City when he, Harden and Westbrook would continue to vigorously challenge each other to improve their game to the next level.
“You got three dudes who really care about basketball. You can't win no MVP if you don't care about the game. And when I say care, I mean really put the work in on the craft,” Durant said to Slater. “I remember trying to beat Russell to the gym. I've told you that story. I remember working out in the summer time with James, 6 in the morning, really just getting together to work on our basketball games, work on our skills, wanting to beat the best.”
Harden, the NBA's leading scorer this season, is currently averaging a whopping 30.6 points on 44.6 percent shooting from the field, 8.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
The Rockets, who have already locked up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoff race, will host the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night in the first game of a three-game homestand.
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