The Oklahoma City Thunder got the biggest win imaginable in the wake of Kevin Durant ditching the franchise, inking Russell Westbrook to a three-year, $85.7 million contract extension. But, wouldn’t you know it, the extension was reportedly agreed upon weeks ago.
According to ESPN’s Royce Young, the Thunder rescinded guard Dion Waiters’ qualifying offer on July 18 to create enough cap space to extend Westbrook. That’s when they knew Westbrook was coming back.
The suddenness of Westbrook’s renegotiated deal happening was jarring, going from dead silence for the last month to news breaking late on Wednesday it was close, and then done. But in reality, Westbrook and the Thunder have been in agreement on an extension for more than two weeks. The signal was Dion Waiters’ qualifying offer being rescinded, a move done with only the goal of freeing necessary cap space to extend Westbrook. The moment the Thunder pulled that offer, they knew they had a commitment from Westbrook.
With Kevin Durant leaving for Golden State, the Thunder made locking up Westbrook their primary objective this offseason and they succeeded. Now the team can focus on building around Westbrook for the next couple of years. And for those of you who are big into futures bets, it may be a good idea to place a future wager on the Oklahoma City Thunder down the road at a site like Betfair Casino. Rumor has it the Thunder want to pair Westbrook with Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin.
Once thought impossible with Westbrook headed to free agency next summer and perhaps looking forward to leaving with the team gutted, August 4 goes down in team history (for now, at least) as a day the small-market dream stayed alive.
And the Thunder might not be done.
According to CBS Sports’ Matt Moore, a post at The Vertical suggested the Thunder will next target Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin:
Durant is deleted. Done and gone and no longer part of his world. “What’s next?” he asked – and the Thunder connected with Westbrook on a plan to construct their next act. Once, it was James Harden and Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Now, it’s a superstar solo act – with an eye upon Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin in 2017 free agency. Griffin is an Oklahoma kid gone Hollywood, a star who has his own tensions with Chris Paul on the Clippers.
This makes plenty of sense when one plays a game of connect the dots.
After all, Griffin hails from Oklahoma City and played college ball at Oklahoma. Even better, the Clippers had a bit of an iffy locker room last year, highlighted by Griffin’s breaking his hand on a trainer’s face. After failing to live up to expectations and all the drama, Griffin might be as good as gone if the Clippers don’t turn things around next year.
Griffin is 27 and only getting older. Still, he posted averages of 21.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last year over 35 appearances, mostly on par with his career averages.
If Griffin has been a target for the Thunder all along, trading Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic makes even more sense now. Ibaka only had one year left on his deal anyway, so the Thunder went out and got something in return for what was likely his eventual departure—especially if the front office has had an eye on Griffin.
Should the Clippers want to wheel and deal before next summer if they get the sense Griffin will leave in free agency, expect the Thunder to be one of the first teams in line for a phone call. A Westbrook-Griffin tandem is certainly something the Thunder could build around and ride into a new era.
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