The Oklahoma City Thunder are in a dire predicament, and it’s only tangentially related to their former superstar announcing he’s headed to the Bay area earlier this month. That’s because their other superstar, Russell Westbrook, is also due to hit free agency next summer when the salary cap rises even more. That rise negates any talk of an extension because it doesn’t make financial sense. This leaves the Thunder with only the prospect of a trade to stave off losing yet another superstar for nothing in return. Except, Westbrook holds all those cards, too.
Kevin O’Connor of Celtics Blog spoke to a league source about this, but it’s pretty simple logic you can arrive at on your own.
Westbrook won’t agree to a long-term extension with the Thunder. But teams — like the Celtics — are hesitant to swing a necessary sweetheart offer to acquire him if he’s not giving a verbal agreement he’d re-sign this summer. So, if Russ wants to relieve those very real concerns from Danny Ainge or some other NBA general manager eager to acquire him before next season, all Westbrook has to do is give the okay.
Here’s more from a league source O’Connor spoke with:
“OKC is still trying to get Russell Westbrook to sign a contract extension,” the source explained, “which he won’t do because extensions at this time aren’t in a player’s best interest anymore. He won’t do it.”
…
“No team is going to pay a hefty price without getting a commitment from Westbrook,” the source said. “Someone may pay a cheaper price without a commitment, but OKC probably doesn’t do a deal like that.”
…
“Russ is in control of the situation. Not any team,” the source said. “He controls his destiny. But if a team is going to get him, they need a long-term commitment.”
Our only real takeaway was the fact another team might swoop in and offer something a lot less — i.e. 50 cents on the dollar — for Westbrook and see if they can woo him to stay in town next summer without a strong agreement to do so beforehand.
That’s less of a risk if a team’s hypothetical deal to acquire the back-to-back All-Star MVP didn’t overhaul the roster to just get a year, or — if they swing it near the deadline in February when the Thunder might be panicking — a few months of Westbrook before they lose him.
Here’s a news flash, if you didn’t already know. NBA stars are smart. They know how to leverage themselves (or, at least, their agents do) to squeeze the most TV-rights money out of a team and land in a situation where they can compete for a title every year. That’s what Kevin Durant did with the Warriors and what Westbrook will likely do next summer. We doubt he gives any possible trade partner a formal okay on re-signing in free agency. It would be dumb to do so.
Sorry, Thunder fans. But this is going to be a year-long narrative — similar to KD last season. There is no break for the brokenhearted.
