Serge Ibaka never asked to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Such a stance has been up for debate since he was traded to the Orlando Magic. Was he unhappy playing third fiddle to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook? Displeased with his role in the offense? Ready to take on a new challenge elsewhere, as a more featured option?
Not according to Ibaka. He wrote a first-person essay for The Cauldron that detailed what he’s been up to this summer, being stuck in Turkey during a coup, the work that goes into polishing his craft and, of course, his feelings about moving from Oklahoma City to Orlando:
I never asked to be traded, even though there was a lot of media conjecture that I was unhappy with my role. I had an exit meeting with Billy Donovan and Sam Presti after the season, and it went well. But this is still a business, everybody has to do what’s best for them, and I let my agent deal with the business side of things. I just focus on basketball. I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to go in and ask for a trade, and I would have been happy staying with the Thunder.
It was always difficult to imagine Ibaka asking or demanding for a trade. The Thunder were just one win away from the NBA Finals, and before being dealt, Durant was still on the roster. And even if Durant was going to leave, that only meant a more expanded role for Ibaka. So why would he want to bail?
This, clearly, was more about the Thunder, as most of their trades tend to be.
Ibaka is going to be an unrestricted free agent next summer, at which point he will command max or near-max money. Oklahoma City obviously didn’t want to shell out that much cash for him in one year’s time and seized the opportunity to capitalize on a departure that, given the timing of this move, seems like it was inevitable. That Ibaka, after spending years in the shadows of Durant and Westbrook, had theoretical cause to request a change is but a convenient coincidence.
