Oklahoma City Thunder Matching Enes Kanter's Max Offer Sheet Is Pure Comedic Gold

Enes Kanter
Photo Credit – Joe Murphy
National Basketball Association

News has surfaced that the Oklahoma City Thunder will reportedly match the four year, $70 million contract offer the Portland Trail Blazers gave to center Enes Kanter. This comes as a shock, even when looking at it in a vacuum and not thinking about recent history, mostly because Kanter is a joke on defense and not worth a max contract. But that’s not why we’re here.

Let’s go back in time to 2012 the offseason. The Thunder were coming off an appearance in the NBA Finals, one they would lose to the Miami Heat, but not before knocking off the perennial western powerhouse San Antonio Spurs on their way to the Finals. One player stepped up for the Thunder big time in that series, and many thought the trio of he, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook would go on to do great things.

His name is James Harden.

You know, the guy who is now a legitimate superstar, a MVP candidate and one of the most recognizable faces in the NBA today. Not to mention, currently the best shooting guard in the game.

RELATED: Trevor Booker Takes Hilarious Shot at Former Teammate Enes Kanter For Thunder Not Making Playoffs

This is the same player the Thunder refused to give a max contract offer to, instead offering him 4 years, $55 million to stick around (about 4-5 million less than a max offer). When they didn’t think he was going to take said offer, they traded him to the Houston Rockets for what has amounted to zilch.

Since that year the Thunder have regressed to the point of missing the playoffs this season and firing their head coach. For a team that many pegged to be on the verge of greatness, they’ve instead fallen from grace and are considered no more contenders than any of the other stacked Western Conference teams.

It’s obvious the move to match Kanter’s offer sheet is an attempt to show Durant they’re willing to spend money to build at least a decent team around him. The Thunder will no doubt be a good team next year, provided they stay healthy, but it’s still beyond laughable that they are willing to spend money on a mediocre player now and weren’t willing to do the same for a proven player who was vital to their future.

It may cost them their superstar, who has already been linked to the Golden State Warriors, and many others believe he’ll end up leaving for his home town team, the Washington Wizards. Not keeping Harden around could haunt the Thunder for many years.

They say hind sight is 20/20. In this case, it might have x-ray vision.

Jeff Shull is Senior Social Strategist at Rant, Inc. You can follow him on Twitter, where he will probably RT a lot of Enes Kanter jokes this season.

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