Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder are forever.
Or at least through next season.
Anyone who thought that the Thunder might consider trading Westbrook after renegotiating his contract is apparently in for a rude awakening. Though Westbrook will be a more attractive trade chip in February, because he’ll have delayed his foray into free agency for another year, Oklahoma City has no plans of moving him, per Basketball Insiders’ Steve Kyler:
By virtue of signing his re-negotiated contract with the Thunder, Westbrook became untradeable for six months, putting him as trade restricted until February 4.
Sources close to the situation say the Thunder’s view on Westbrook is to see what he can do as the single focal point of the team and plan to keep the noise out of the equation until next summer.
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There is little doubt that after losing Kevin Durant to free agency for nothing in return that the Thunder won’t be more mindful in how they handle Westbrook, but as sources close to the situation have said, there is almost no scenario in which the Thunder look at trades with Westbrook this year.
This makes some sense.
The Thunder clearly want to keep Westbrook. He’s a superstar in the prime of his career, after all—one of the five best in the game. If they were going to move him, they would have done it almost as soon as Kevin Durant left. This renegotiation isn’t some ploy with the primary goal of tacking a half-season onto his trade value.
What the Thunder did is buy themselves one year to sell Westbrook on their new direction without Durant. They don’t have to worry about losing him for nothing next summer, so they can play out next year, then re-evaluate his future after the season, one year ahead of his free agency. It’s not a great position to be in, because they will basically be dealing with the same crap they waded through this summer before signing Westbrook to his extension. But it’s better than the alternative of losing him right away.
Of course, in the NBA, stances change quickly. If it turns out the Thunder aren’t fit to compete, let alone contend, in the Western Conference with their current roster and instead flame out in a big way, you have to imagine general manager Sam Presti will do his due diligence in February, once Westbrook is eligible to be traded. But, given all Oklahoma City has done to reach this point, it will likely take a catastrophic performance for a Westbrook deal to gain any traction before next summer.
