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Did Rockets' GM know Harden would be this good? 'F--- no!'

USA Today Sports

In a league with seemingly endless amounts of money, $6 million was the difference between multiple years of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden tearing up the league together, instead of what we have now, all of them on different teams.

Back in 2012, Thunder GM Sam Presti was hesitant to give a max contract to a player that had always come off the bench for his team, so he opted to trade Harden for a slew of picks and questionable talent to Houston that - four years later - turned out to be just Steven Adams.

Hindsight is 20/20 on these things, but back then Rockets GM Daryl Morey wasn't quite sure he was getting as much of a return on his investment.

"People always ask, 'You traded for him; did you know he was this good?'" Morey told Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. "I'm like, 'F--k no!' I mean, we thought he was extremely good and better than other teams probably did.

"Everyone thought that he was on the coattails of Kevin and Russ."

Handing the reigns over to a player that had never been more than a sixth man - and third option - was a risky move for Morey, but luckily for him, the deal was already won within the first two games of Harden's career as a Rocket. Four days after the trade, the L.A. native put up 37 points and 12 assists in his first game, then dropped a cool 45 on 14-of-19 shooting in his second - there's been no doubting it since.

Related: D'Antoni: Harden 'the perfect superstar for how I'd like to coach'

Coming to Houston, people knew he would have an uptick in production just based solely off opportunity and usage rate, but no one could have predicted the offensive powerhouse he's become today.

"I think he's maybe the greatest off-the-dribble driver of all time, in terms of his ability to create offense at a high-efficiency rate for his team," Morey added.

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