As the NBA Playoffs are rapidly approaching the conference finals and more and more teams have exit interviews and officially enter the offseason, rumors and rumblings from around the league about potential trades and free agency happenings have increased.
The rumor mill won’t really get going until LeBron James’ season ends and we can spend the time between that moment and July speculating wildly about his future, which will shape the NBA for the next few years (just as all of his previous moves have done). However, while James will set the market in free agency and potentially cause teams to take swings and make moves to posture after his deal is done, the rumors and talk of other stars being on the move is already heating up.
In Toronto, the talk is whether they should make a major move after yet another disappointing end to the season at the hands of LeBron, with DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, and Serge Ibaka all on big deals through 2020. Zach Lowe and Kevin Arnovitz debated the merits of trading DeRozan on The Lowe Post podcast on Monday, explaining how someone could talk themselves into DeRozan and deal away someone of significant value for him.
However, the most interesting tidbit from that conversation came from Lowe who said in speaking with front office people around the league there is an “increasing” feeling from non-Thunder people that OKC should consider dealing Russell Westbrook.
“There’s an increasing number of people around the league who think the Thunder should look at trading [Russell] Westbrook,” Lowe says. “To be clear, not a report. Not Thunder sources think they should do this. Just in spitballing ideas with teams around the league, there’s a number of people who have heard, just like, ‘It’s time for something to change here.’ And my reaction to that is, no one should touch that contract with a 10 foot pole.”
It’s not the first time we’ve heard rumblings that Westbrook is beginning to be viewed as something of a problem in OKC, but it would be almost impossible to believe the Thunder would deal Russ right now. Westbrook just inked an extension and there was so much fanfare around him sticking with OKC after all of the Durant nonsense that it’s unfathomable to think they would actually look into it.
That said, there is an argument to be made, and it’s one that’s been building for some time, that Westbrook’s style is simply not conducive to being the top star on a championship contending team. The Thunder, should they stick with him, will be committed to Westbrook being that star through 2022 when he’s scheduled to make over $43 million. That contract is likely the biggest hurdle should they try to deal Westbrook and many teams probably share Lowe’s feeling that they wouldn’t want anything to do with that deal.
