Thunder working hard to get past post-Harden shock | NBA.com
Parker does not begrudge Harden asking for, and getting, a max deal for almost $80 million from Houston. But he preferred having the best chance to win a title with the Spurs, and he knew he'd have to shave a little to put the best possible team around him and Duncan and Ginobili. "On the one hand, you can take less money like I did, like what Manu did, and stay with a winning team," Parker said. "Or you can do your own thing and be your own man, like [Tracy] McGrady, and try to be a superstar and want to make the All-Star team, and [Harden] decided to do that. I wish him luck. Both ways, you can't go wrong. It depends who you want to be. "A lot of people ask me, 'How are you so successful in San Antonio?' Because, I say, we did a lot of sacrifice. When you look at Manu, Manu did a lot of sacrifice to stay here. I did the same thing. Sometimes when you want to win championships, you have to do that."