Russell Westbrook Agrees To An Extension With The Thunder

Ever since Kevin Durant announced that he was leaving Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors, every basketball fan has wanted to know what Russell Westbrook’s future looked like with the Thunder. Today, we got our answer, and if you’re an OKC fan, it’s the best possible news that you could hear.

Westbrook agreed to a 3-year deal with Oklahoma City, one that will keep him in town until at least 2018 and will pay him a maximum allowable $85 million over that span. The news that Westbrook planned on signing an extension was first reported by a handful of journalists on Wednesday evening.

https://twitter.com/KDN4/status/760966319667761153

Russell Westbrook is set to sign an extension with OKC. Details are with the league for final approvals. Press conference is tomorrow.

— Adam (@AdamJoseph____) August 3, 2016

Thunder fans, rejoice! (via@KDN4) Russell Westbrook is about to sign an extension with OKC. Details are with the… https://t.co/58OoBULlD9

— Sarah Dewberry (@sarahhdewberry) August 3, 2016

And Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical followed up with the report the two sides were nearing an agreement to extend him beyond the 2016-17 season. Wojnarowski eventually reported that Westbrook planned on flying to Oklahoma City and signing the contract on Thursday because the two sides came to an agreement on a deal.

Sources: Russell Westbrook is flying to Oklahoma City on Thursday morning, planning to sign a three-year, $85M-plus contract renegotiation.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 4, 2016

This, of course, is a huge deal for the Thunder. The prevailing thought among most people – partly because it was believed that Westbrook planned on leaving OKC once his contract was up at the end of the 2016-17 season – was that the Thunder had to trade their dynamic point guard so they could get something back for him. While they didn’t do that with Durant, many believed that they needed to with Westbrook because the team’s best player once he left would be Victor Oladipo or Steven Adams or Enes Kanter.

But luckily for Thunder fans, that’s not going to happen. Locking Westbrook up for the foreseeable future is huge for them, not only because they have one of the five best basketball players on Earth – and certainly the player in the NBA most likely to cause cardiac arrest – under contract for the next two years, but also because it’s easier to haul in free agents when you have a player the caliber of Westbrook committed to your team.

On top of that, the team now boasts a talented, athletic backcourt with Westbrook and Oladipo, plus a number of talented big men like Adams, Enes Kanter, and incoming rookie, Domantas Sabonis, so there’s plenty of reasons for optimism in Oklahoma City.

For a while, it looked like the Thunder were one step away from entering rebuilding mode. However, with this commitment from Westbrook, the team is in a position to compete for a playoff berth and perhaps more.