A look back at one of the most exciting NBA teams of recent years…

A deep dive into the lives and careers of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, using their entangled paths as a lens to view the myriad facets of the player empowerment era.

It’s one of the greatest “what ifs” in sports – what if the Thunder had kept Durant, Westbrook, and Harden, three of the league’s young, exciting stars and future MVPs, together? Their departure from Oklahoma City begins two decades of repercussions for basketball and the formation of the modern NBA.

When We Were Young and Fearless is The Social Network for basketball. As he touches on universal themes of loyalty, money, power, friendship, class and lost innocence, Abrams ponders the central irony of athletic greatness: how much is an individual willing to sacrifice to win in a team sport?

“If they had stayed together, definitely would have won a championship.” It is a truth universally known that mentioning the KD-Westbrook-Harden era of the Thunder on social media will generate at least one response along these lines. It’s hard to disagree, given the team’s record and just how much of a force they were. In When We Were Young and Fearless, Jonathan Abrams gives readers a well-paced, well-written account of those all-too-brief years, before bringing the story up-to-date. I really enjoyed this.

It was one of the youngest teams to take on the NBA and almost reach the pinnacle. The three stars at its core — Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden — have gone on to become faces of the League, as well as lightning rods of discussion, debate, and gossip. While all three of the players have won a season MVP, KD has gone on to have the most decorated career (champion, Finals MVP, multiple Olympic Gold medals). That being said, there’s no denying that all three of them have left their indelible marks on the NBA, and how basketball is played today. Even if you have read a lot about these stars, you’ll still find plenty of new information and anecdotes that fill out your pictures of the three players (as well as some of their teammates).

The book offers an interesting look at the Thunder as an organization, too. I found the portrait of Sam Presti particularly illuminating and informative, as Abrams provides plenty of examples of his leadership style, and explains how he finally assembled the championship team he’d been trying for so long to create.

Presti: “An organization with an opportunity to win is an organization that possesses an appreciation for the unspectacular and the incremental.”

As the team today goes through some reassembly (or disassembly, depending on how you feel about them), it’s interesting to see how certain arguments and justifications stay the same, and how the pressures of the salary cap can prevent a team from maintaining long-term success or dominance. An interesting glimpse behind-the-curtain.

Most readers, of course, will pick up this book to read about the three stars’ time on the team, and that of course forms the bulk of the text. It’s difficult to come away from When We Were Young and Fearless without a fondness for the players; either a reinforced one for those who already consider themselves fans, or a new one for those who have inevitably witnessed their teams taken apart by KD, Harden, and/or Russell at various times. Abrams tracks their careers and characters from the beginning, through high school, college, the drafts, and their meteoric rise in the NBA.

Abrams provides engaging accounts of how they changed as people and players over the years, and how the relationships between the three have changed over time. We learn about their upbringings, motivations, insecurities, blindspots, and also the long tail of the heartbreak of that Thunder team’s break-up. The players are quoted extensively, from various points during their careers, and each offers plenty of honest analysis of key moments and decisions. (Abrams offers alternative perspectives, too, which can help readers come to their own conclusions.) They are also honest about what happened in the series versus LeBron’s Miami Heat, and how their youth and immaturity likely led to the loss. The many contributions from teammates, opponents, execs, media members, and others who were there add further colour and depth to the account, and help to highlight the impact this team had.

“No NBA players (outside of LeBron James and Stephen Curry) have had such an outsized influence in shaping and maturing today’s league than Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. Nearly a generation ago, they teamed on an Oklahoma City franchise in its infancy for a league still growing into the behemoth it is today. The fact that Kevin, Russell, and James were drafted to the same organization by the same executive in consecutive drafts bonded them throughout their careers. As teammates, their personalities and strengths sometimes fit seamlessly. In other instances, they collided and clashed. But they were always entertaining and impactful…”

When We Were Young and Fearless is an engaging, well-written and balanced account of one of the most interesting and exciting NBA teams of recent years; and it is a must-read for all fans of the League.

Towards the end of the book, specifically in the chapters about Durant’s and Harden’s post-Thunder careers, Abrams briefly mentions the ill-fated team-up on the Brooklyn Nets. If readers want a very good, in-depth look at this experiment, then I would strongly recommend you also pick up Can’t Knock the Hustle by Matt Sullivan [check out my review here].

Kevin Durant is currently on the Houston Rockets. James Harden is currently on the Cleveland Cavaliers. In August 2026, Westbrook announced his retirement from the NBA.

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Jonathan Abrams’s When We Were Young and Fearless is due to be published by Harper in North America, on November 3rd.

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Review copy received via Edelweiss