The Oklahoma City Thunder’s season is over, but Russell Westbrook’s time with the team is not.
Nor does he sound like a player who wants it to be.
Westbrook cannot explore free agency until 2018 (player option), so with regard to next season, the issue is kind of moot. But he will be eligible to sign a designated player extension once he makes an All-NBA team and/or wins the MVP award that tacks on five years and more than $200 million to his current deal. We can’t be totally sure whether the Thunder are willing to invest that much in him while their future remains up in the air, but if presented with it, Westbrook doesn’t seem like he’d turn it down for the opportunity to be courted by outside teams, per Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman:
Westbrook: "Obviously, Oklahoma City is a place I want to be."
— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) April 26, 2017
Again: There is a lot the Thunder still have to figure out. They’ll be lucky to avoid paying the luxury tax next season without staging a full-scale teardown. That’s not an enviable position in which to be when you’re a 47-win team that didn’t make it out of the first round and has no clear path to battling the league’s foremost superpowers.
Dealing with uncertainty, however, is exponentially easier if Westbrook is committed to the cause. That at least gives you the option of planning around him, without being in the dark about his allegiances and intentions. And for all the Thunder don’t have, it appears they at least have that.
