When the Oklahoma City Thunder traded Jeff Green to the Boston Celtics back in 2011 for Kendrick Perkins, everyone was on board with the move.

The Thunder were looking at one team back then that they needed to get past to win the Western Conference and that was the Los Angeles Lakers who were most dominant because of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum on their frontline.

Perkins was going to help the Thunder deal with them. He would have, the Thunder just never really needed Perkins to.

Perkins has brought a lot of value to the Thunder as a leader and vocal defensive anchor. He can be a good NBA player but some feel he plays a little too much for the Thunder, especially when Nick Collison is the other option, and he’s paid too much (he’s owed $17 million the next two seasons).

It wasn’t just swapping Green for Perkins at the time of the trade that made it seem like such a good deal for the Thunder. It also allowed James Harden and Serge Ibaka to be unleashed within the Thunder rotation.

It’s not a knock on Green, but he was the third wheel behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and it made it kind of hard for Harden to have the ball much on offense and Ibaka to get minutes.

Looking back on the trade now and watching Green go off for a career-high 43 points last night vs. the Miami Heat has to have Thunder fans thinking about what could have been had they not traded Green.

A big reason why the Thunder traded Green was because they knew they weren’t going to be able to pay him past his rookie contract, especially since they saw how promising Harden and Ibaka were. What ended up happening though was before the 2011-12 season, doctors found a problem with Green’s heart and he missed the entire season and basically ended up not getting the kind of money OKC anticipated he would demand.

Green signed a four-year, $36 million deal with the Celtics which has him making just about the same as what Perkins is making for the Thunder.

It would have been impossible for the Thunder to foresee this but basically, they could have been able to keep Green and eventually pay him.

This may have even kept Harden from blossoming so quickly into a no-brainer, max-contract guy to where the Thunder could have potentially kept him as well. Maybe not, but kind of a reasonable possibility.

Would the Thunder have made it to the NBA Finals last year without Green or Perkins? Probably. Just insert Collison into all of Perkins’ minutes from last year and they would have been just fine.

You can make the case that the Thunder could essentially have the same team right now except with Green instead of Perkins. Isn’t that the perfect swap for the Thunder? They need to get better at playing small and Green is the perfect small ball three/four and one of the best in the league right now at defending LeBron James.

This is probably too unfair to think about as a possible “What if?” scenario but it still could have happened and wouldn’t the Thunder be better off with Green instead of Perkins right now?

Last night, it was hard not to think that way.

Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Former Oklahoma City Thunder star Jeff Green missed all of last season for the Boston Celtics with a heart condition.

Green returned to the floor for the first time in an NBA uniform yesterday, playing in Turkey for the Celtics vs. Fenerbahce Ulker.

The Celtics lost 97-91 but Green played well scoring 16 points in 27 minutes. He went 7-for-10 from the field and also grabbed four boards.

“Yeah, (Green) was very comfortable. He played with great speed,” Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said after the game. “You could see he played well at the 3 and the 4, which was great. The last time we had him he struggled when we switched him back and forth. Obviously we’re starting to figure out his game as well, so that helped.”

The Thunder sent Green to the Celtics in a surprise deal at the trade deadline two seasons ago and received Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson in return. The thought process at the time was that OKC needed added size to contend with the Los Angeles Lakers who were dominating the Western Conference at that time.

While Perkins fit in just fine in OKC, Green struggled to do so in Boston. Green played 23.5 minutes per game and averaged 9.8 points per game while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from three.

In the playoffs for Boston two seasons ago, he averaged just 19.2 minutes and 7.3 points per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the field.

These numbers were way down from what Green did in his time with the Thunder. Green was averaging around 15 points and six rebounds per game for the Thunder from 2008 until he was traded. He started as an undersized power forward and was often the second scoring option, blending well with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

When Green left, it opened up the door for James Harden and Serge Ibaka to step up and they have done just that. But you still can’t help wondering what it would be like if Green were still on the Thunder.

Without Perkins, maybe the Thunder don’t get to the NBA Finals last season and beat the Lakers in the second round. But in the conference finals and NBA Finals, Perkins was much more of a liability on the floor and OKC would have been much better off with someone exactly like Green, matching the small ball lineups of San Antonio and Miami.

The Thunder are looking to fill the void Green left as a versatile forward, able to play the three and four with rookie Perry Jones III. It’s not a perfect match but Jones III has the potential to play a similar role that Green did, just scaled down offensively which will fit in more with the current hierarchy of the Thunder.

Green has moved on to with Boston signing new 4-year, $36 million deal. He will be a very important part of Boston’s team as they hope to make another run at getting by the Miami Heat next season.

May 9, 2011; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics forward Jeff Green (8) looks to pass while guarded by Miami Heat guard Mike Miller (13) during the third quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Former Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jeff Green is close to signing a 4-year, $40 million deal with the Boston Celtics, according to Sam Amick of SI.com.

Green was traded from the Thunder in the 2010-11 season to Boston for Kendrick Perkins. Green missed the entire 2011-12 season with heart surgery.

Despite that and not having a very good run with the Celtics in the short time he was with the team (9.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in 26 games), Boston is looking to offer him $10 million per year.

Green was a very good player in Oklahoma City. Drafted the same season as Kevin Durant he was very much a big part of the team’s future before being traded. In his second and third seasons in the league, Green averaged around 16 points and six rebounds per game for OKC.

In fact, Green was very much missed by the Thunder this season. He was traded for Perkins in 2011 so that the Thunder had more size to combat the Los Angeles Lakers’ bigs, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

In the 2012 playoffs, Green would have been perfect for the series against San Antonio and Miami. The Thunder played a lot of small lineups in both of those series and Perkins was left pretty much ineffective.

Green would have brought the Thunder more versatility and could have possibly swung the title in the Thunder’s way.

One thing is for sure though, with the Thunder so concerned about saving cap to keep James Harden and Serge Ibaka in the coming years, keeping Green on the roster would only have made that tougher. At $10 million per year, there’s no way the Thunder could have kept Green for much longer.

That’s part of what the Thunder model is too. It’s about drafting well, developing talent and then also making moves via trades or free agency that make sense. That’s part of why Green was traded. Thunder management knew what they had in Harden and Ibaka and it would have become impossible to keep Green too.

That’s also why when rumors surfaced about Harden possibly being traded to the Charlotte Bobcats before the NBA Draft so that OKC could get Bradley Beal, it wasn’t that shocking. That would have been a move consistent with what the Thunder are doing in building their team. Selling high on Harden, committing to Durant-Westbrook-Ibaka and taking a chance on a rookie that GM Sam Presti liked wouldn’t have been a terrible move.

But we are where we are now. The Thunder are trying to find a way to keep Harden and Ibaka and the chances of doing so don’t look all that great, especially when you look around at the kind of contracts being handed out this summer.

Eric Gordon basically guaranteed Harden would receive a max-deal next summer. Players like Omer Asik and JaVale McGee will show why Ibaka could also be in the market for $10-plus million per season.

The most likely scenario is still for the Thunder to extend Harden this summer but Ibaka may be another story. And as much as the Thunder missed Green this year, imagine if they were trying to hang on to him as well now.

Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

Perry Jones III may very well have been the steal of the draft for the Oklahoma City Thunder, drafting him 28th overall.

The Thunder did not expect to see Jones III on the board at this point but were more than happy to select him.

“We felt very comfortable making this selection at 28,” Thunder GM Sam Presti said. “We looked at all the information that we had available, and we wouldn’t have selected him unless we felt comfortable with all the information.”

Presti went on to say how he saw Jones III in his first ever college practice at Baylor and spoke to his coach there who described Jones III as someone who really cares about what he’s doing on the basketball court and of course, quite the amazing athlete.

The more you think about Jones III on this Thunder team, the more it seems like a perfect fit. His personality should blend right in with the likes of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

“We really see him as a blend player,” Presti said. “We see great value in the fact that he’s incredibly talented, but he’s able to play within a team and understand how he can impact a game. He doesn’t need to be forcing the issue at all times. And with our particular team, we feel like that’s a huge quality that we looked at as a positive for us.”

But how much can we expect from Jones III during his rookie season? There are concerns regarding the health of his knee. Will he make the rotation?

The general consensus right now around the local media that cover the Thunder is that there aren’t a lot of immediate expectations for Jones III and that he may not be in the rotation to start.

“We won’t pigeonhole him,” assistant GM Troy Weaver said of Jones’ future position. “We think he can play anywhere on the front line. He’s a versatile player. The coaches will handle that. But we see his versatility as a strength.”

The Thunder will look to have a 10-man rotation once the season starts and Jones III actually has a very good chance of cutting into it. They will have the same starters as last season with Harden and Nick Collison as the first two off the bench.

Eric Maynor will be back from injury and will take over Derek Fisher’s backup point duties, assuming the Thunder don’t re-sign Fisher. Daequan Cook will continue his role as 3-point specialist leaving one more spot for Jones III to compete for.

Cole Aldrich has been in line waiting to step into the rotation and now with Nazr Mohammed likely gone he may. But Jones III could compete and beat Aldrich for that spot. The best case scenario for the Thunder would be if Jones III does crack the rotation.

You see, Jones III is exactly the type of player OKC was missing in the playoffs. They needed another versatile athlete to throw on LeBron or be able to grab rebounds while also defending quicker players.

In the playoffs, the Kendrick Perkins trade where OKC sent away Jeff Green started to look like a bad idea, if only Green was healthy. The Thunder were really missing that stretch 3-4 guy who can make some plays, defend a lot of positions and rebound.

Jones III can be exactly that for the Thunder. He won’t be the ball handler that Green was but he is bigger and just as athletic if not more. He’s not going to protect the rim like Serge Ibaka but he’ll be better to have out there than Fisher trying to take charges all the time.

We all keep reminding ourselves that Jones III could have been a lottery pick, this year or the last. That means he really should be getting a solid chunk of minutes for the Thunder next season.

“Everybody looks at his talent and says this guy should be dominant,” Weaver said. “But he plays within a teamwork and tries to blend with players and help his team win ballgames.”

One thing is for certain that the Thunder players will embrace him. Any down feelings Jones III had for slipping so late in the first round will be immediately erased when he steps on the floor with the most exciting team in the NBA.

This may be the typical overreaction immediately following the draft but there’s a few things we know about this Thunder team. One is that they will win a championship whether it’s this next season or soon after. Jones III will be integral in helping them do so.

Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics took part in one of the most surprising trades of the season last year swapping Kendrick Perkins and Jeff Green.

The Thunder made it to the Finals this year with Perkins as their starting center while Green did not play in a single game for the Celtics this year due to a heart condition. Green failed a physical at the beginning of the season and then had surgery.

The Celtics have now been awarded a 2013 second round draft choice as compensation for the dispute over Green’s medical condition. The Celtics probably feel that Oklahoma City withheld information about Green’s condition at the time of the trade.

The second round pick is the one Oklahoma City had obtained from the Charlotte Bobcats.

This isn’t a big blow to the Thunder as it is unlikely they will be adding much to their roster via second round picks.

When the Thunder made this trade a year ago, they wanted Perkins to help them get past the Lakers who have Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. The Celtics did it to have another athletic wing to put on LeBron James.

It’s ironic that the one player OKC really could have used this postseason was a healthy Jeff Green who would have been perfect for the last two series against the Spurs and Heat, who were playing a lot of small lineups thus nullifying any affect Perkins could have had.

Green will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and is expected to be healthy enough to play next season.

Update

Here is the official statement by the league regarding the decision, via Daily Thunder.

As part of a ruling in a trade disclosure dispute between the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA Commissioner David Stern today awarded the Celtics a 2013 second-round draft pick held by the Thunder. Stern found that there was no evidence of bad faith or any intent to withhold information on the part of Thunder management or its physicians, but that Oklahoma City’s cardiologists were in possession of information about Jeff Green that was not shared with Thunder management and that should have been disclosed to the Celtics in connection with the trade of Green in February 2011.

Under NBA rules, teams are required to disclose to each other in connection with trades any information in their possession or control about a player’s prior injuries, illnesses, or other health conditions that could affect the player’s ability to play NBA basketball at any point in the future. Green had surgery on his heart in January 2012 and did not play during the 2011-12 season.

Kevin Jairaj-US PRESSWIRE

The Charlotte Bobcats have been shopping their No. 2 overall pick in the upcoming 2012 NBA Draft.

James Harden is reportedly a player that the Bobcats would be interested in getting for that pick.

It makes sense that the Bobcats would like to deal the pick for an established star or even a few pieces. Anthony Davis is the prize of this draft and the only player close to being a sure thing.

Charlotte would have to settle for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Bradley Beal or Thomas Robinson now that the New Orleans Hornets jumped them in the Draft Lottery for the top pick.

Harden would be worth it for the Bobcats to give up that pick. In his third year, Harden has shown all the making of a potential All-Star in this league.

The Oklahoma City Thunder would have to have quite the deal on the table for them to part ways with their beloved Harden though. The Thunder will however be in somewhat of a tough position pretty soon when it comes to paying Harden and also Serge Ibaka.

Many think they will have to choose between the two since it will be very hard to keep both. With Kevin Durant and Russell already locked in for the next 5-6 years for the Thunder and Harden being a somewhat similar player to the two, maybe Ibaka would be the better long-term decision for OKC.

It’s hard to imagine the Thunder trading Harden no matter how much sense it could make. Sam Presti and the Thunder organization are so dedicated to winning with the core they have now.

The Thunder have shown though that they will make the tough trades like they did last year when they dealt Jeff Green to Boston for Kendrick Perkins. That trade eventually has worked out in the Thunder’s favor.

Trading Harden essentially for MKG or Beal would actually be closer to what the “Thunder Model” is. They’re all about finding that right guy in the draft that they can develop and make work with the chemistry of their team and the chemistry of Durant-Westbrook.

If the Thunder think there’s a player that fits that mold at No. 2, why not pull the trigger?