When the Thunder traded James Harden rather than pay him a lot of people thought they were making a big mistake. It would be difficult to find someone who can do what the former Sixth Man of the Year did for the team and while Kevin Martin was helpful offensively that was about it. Now Kevin Martin is also gone and Thunder don’t have an x-factor off the bench. According to Thunder star guard Russell Westbrook, they don’t need one. Read more after the jump.
From Marc Stein of ESPN.com:
Which is why so many of us pests on the outside are openly wondering if the Thunder, with suddenly little to show in return for Harden unless they use the trade exception they created via Martin’s sign-and-trade to Minnesota, have enough to regain the 60-win form we witnessed before Westbrook went down.
It’s no lock even if you presume, as we do here, that Westbrook will make a fairly full recovery from the knee tear he suffered when Houston’s Patrick Beverley lunged at him in Game 2 of OKC’s first-round series with Harden’s Rockets.
Said Westbrook: “The main problem is, I personally think, since James has left I think everybody thinks we need somebody to fill that slot. The slot doesn’t have to be filled. We have a great team. If everybody does their job, we should be all right.”
