The Thunder may begin fielding offers for All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook in the wake of Kevin Durant‘s decision to bolt to the Warriors, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
Oklahoma City is considering a renegotiation and extension of Westbrook’s current contract, which has one year remaining, sources told Windhorst. However, a league source informed David Aldridge of NBA.com that Westbrook, who can become an unrestricted free agent next summer, has no interest in doing that.
Thus, several league executives have opined to Windhorst that the Thunder will consider testing the market for Westbrook, who will make $17.77MM next season. The Thunder will take some time before making any roster decisions, Windhorst adds. If they gamble that they can re-sign Westbrook next summer, they may wind up losing both of their superstars without any compensation.
GM Sam Presti told Royce Young of ESPN.com and other members of the media during a press conference on Monday that Westbrook would embrace the challenge of playing without Durant.
“He’s a true leader that takes it on. And I think he’ll take this on as well,” Presti said.
With the rising salary cap, there is no real incentive for a max-level player like Westbrook to sign an extension, since he can easily make more money as an unrestricted free agent. Oklahoma City will have plenty of cap space next summer, as only Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler have guaranteed deals beyond next season.
There my trade here it is again
Three team trade between clippers , cavs, thunders
Clippers get Westbrook
Class get paul
Thunder get Irving , and Thompson
Makes so sense, Cavs lose big time
Not only is that a terrible trade, the Thunder would be taking back way to much in salary for it to even be a legal trade.
It’s also terrible spelling
Grammar* spelling has improved for him
A) Cavs give up way too much. Beyond the fact that Paul and LBJ are close friends, Paul isn’t THAT much better than Irving and some might even prefer Irving over Paul. Thompson is an incredibly valuable piece to the team and the cost of replacing him would be staggering considering what lesser bigs received in FA this off-season.
B) The difference between Westbrook and Paul is negligible and you can make a case for either in terms of who’s better. Westbrook is only signed for 1 year. Why would the Clippers make that trade for a 1 year rental and why mess with team chemistry? You think Doc wants the headache of dealing with a shoot first PG after watching how Westbrook couldn’t win with one of the best players in the world?
CP3 has an early termination option, thus one year as well.
This is the most sane one you’ve come up with so far, but I dont see Cleveland doing that. CP3 and Westbrook are both free agents after the season, so I dont see OKC or the Clippers having a problem with it. Kyrie Irving still has 3 years left on an affordable contract, and is 6 years younger than Chris Paul. Obviously, Westbrook and CP3 are the better players, but its too risky for the Cavs to make that kind of move, in terms of long term
…obviously, I call it the most sane b/c of what we have to compare it to with all of his other “proposals” lol
Uhh… No trade clauses.
There we go . I brought this trade up early today
. Three team trade . between the thunder, clippers , and cavs
Clippers get Westbrook , and love
Cavs get paul, and Brice Johnson
Thunder get griffin, and Irving
Cavs sign wade this give labron James his of his 3,best friends to play with
Clippers get Westbrook , and love to go to Los Angeles
And Thunder get two new stars to build around. And this trade works under the cap also
Wow…..even worse than the last trade you suggested.
Chris I thought you were only a wizard with MLB trades.. I’m happy to see you get down with the NBA too!
BRO, why not just trade LeBron James for Sidney Crosby. That would make more sense right.
Westbrook for Jimmy Butler, straight up.
too risky for the Bulls. Butler is on an amazing contract right now. If you do that, Westbrook could easily just walk in free agency
That would be an EXCELLENT trade for the Bulls, which means it isn’t happening.
#76ers Okafor, Our pick, Lakers pick, Saric, 2019 Kings pick for #RussellWestbrook
Okafor would be ultra redundant alongside Sabonis, Kanter and Adams. OKC needs a big who can stretch the floor.
That’s way to much to give up. Okafor, Sacramento pick , Sixers top pic.
I going to re do this trade
Cavs get Paul and Brice Johnson
Clippers get Westbrook , and love
Thunder get Irving , and Griffith
Think about this this give cab money go sign Wade and Labron James get his 2 best friends
Westbrook gets to go home , and love get go back to la.
And thunder get two new stars to build around
And this trade works under the cap
I’m left wondering where this leaves OKC. Westbrook is a free agent next season, and they traded Ibaka. That being said, they still have a nice start to retooling or rebuilding this team. Will they trade Westbrook, assuming he will leave next year too, or will they try to retool around him, Victor Oladipo, and Steven Adams? They are stuck with that Enes Kanter contract, which isnt as terrible under this new salary cap, but is still bad. They really lack shooting, after losing KD. I dont know if they look to keep Dion Waiters, but the fit doesnt make much sense for that. If they could add a couple of shooters on the wing, at the 2 or 3 spots, that would fill their biggest need, and give Westbrook room to work with. It would definitely help if Oladipo continues to improve that outside shot too, and since they have him, Kyle Singler could return to form from 3 and be useful. This could finally open up playing time for Mitch McGary at the 4. He is really skilled, and I’m interested to see what he can do, assuming he can stay healthy. They also obviously got Sabonis in the Ibaka trade, and he is a really interesting, and skilled big. I still think they can be pretty good this year if they can finally play the right way. Obviously, if they trade Westbrook, thats a different direction. Regardless of everything, this isnt like Cleveland. OKC is still in pretty decent shape. Sam Presti did a decent job of recovering from other mistakes, and making sure to have a contingency in place, in case this happened. I’m pretty excited to see Westbrook get a chance to lead his own team, regardless of where it may end up being.
Personally, I hope he stays in OKC, at this point, but I’d have to guess its unlikely, with everything we see nowadays. The incentive to stay with your own team isnt very high over these couple of years b/c the money is still exorbitant, and comparable, and then if you take a short deal with someone, you can get even more, as the salary cap will still increase exponentially next year. Then, there is also a lot of pressure to win now for these stars, and with all the talent in the league, there are going to always be a lot of guys that go home considering their season a failure b/c obviously, not everyone can win at the same time. So, in their minds, they have a better shot if they go elsewhere
Why do you feel the Kanter deal is a bad one, especially in the light of recent bigs signed? He’s young and in the last two years with OKC averaged 13 pts and 8 rebounds while shooting way over 50% from the field and that was as a rotation player.
Kanter is literally the worst defender in the history of basketball, and isnt the most efficient rebounder, despite his counting stats in that area. I would take Mozgov over him every day of the week, even at the age difference. The deal isnt as bad now though, as I said
…Even still, Al Jefferson got 3 years/$30 million. I’d much rather have that deal than Kanter at 3/$55 million remaining right now. Thats that much more extra space they could have used to address the wing positions
OKC needs to work out a sign and trade for Waiters so they get something in return for him. Threatening to match any offer could give an interested team pause on having him sign and convince them to send OKC some assets to make sure Waiters is theirs. Then dial Danny Ainge and see if he’s ready to give up four future, 1st rounders, Crowder, Jerebko, Young, plus this year’s selections of Brown, Jackson, and Bentol.
Why not get Gay 2 2nd rounders for Waiters?
lol thats dumb.
Come to the Lakers. We got plenty of pieces to get him. Now that we signed Deng, Deng can play PF and Ingram can start at SF. Nance can play PF also. Trade Russell, Randle and a future draft pick for Weatbrook. People may say that’s not enough but if you know you’re going to lose him to free agency it’s actually a pretty good trade. If you have to you can make it Russell, Ingram and a future draft pick but I’d much rather hang on to Ingran if possible. They should get this trade done ASAP though
at that point though, OKC is better off going into the season and seeing where they are at the trade deadline. If you have a better idea of Westbrook’s thought process at that point, and decide you dont think he would stay, you trade him, and would take a lesser offer. 1 full season of Westbroook is still pretty valuable, especially at that price ($17.77 million)
I heard they’ll offer him a context extension in the next coming days or weeks and if he declines it hen they’ll start looking at possibly trading him. Might as well get something for him now in my eyes and the sooner the better for them because it gives them more time to build team chemistry with the new young guys.
there is less than zero incentive for Westbrook to sign an extension for a multitude of reasons
I agree
Money becomes the problem here. lets just go with a simple Westbrook for Russell, Ingram, and 2017 1st pk.
Westbrook is on the books for $17,769,374. While Russell $5,332,800 and Ingram $5,405,040* (Ingram is projection)
This leaves $7,031,534 in dead money. Money has to be matched closely in any trade
Send him to the Spurs.
The Spurs don’t really have anything to trade to get him
(PG)Russell Westbrook to the Spurs for (SG/SF) Danny Green, (SF/PF) Kyle Anderson, (SG/PG) Dejounte Murray, Spurs 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 1st rd pks.
Salaries 2017
Westbrook $17,769,374
x
Green $10,000,000
Anderson $1,192,080
Murray $983,400
This still leaves $5,593,894. Not sure thats close enough for a trade
I think rather than trading Westbrook, OKC should look to trade for Demarcus Cousins.
Maybe something like Kanter for Cousins? The money and years match up perfectly. If they can get even more creative, maybe add Rudy Gay to the trade to replace Durant at SF. They would need to find a 3rd team though to make it all make sense, but certainly a one on one trade makes sense. With Cousins and Westbrook OKC is immediately back to being a 50+ win team in the West. Probably not enough to be TRUE Finals contenders but enough to make to battle the Clippers and Blazers for the 3rd seed in the West.
I’m sorry, the additional team might be able to sweeten the deal a bit for the Kings but honestly, the writing is on the wall for a Cousins trade and he basically comes with a lot of baggage which hurts his value for most teams. He needs go to a contender. Westrbook and Cousins would make a couple of all-star players with huge chips on their shoulders and something to prove to the world.
Send him to Boston. They have the Nets first pick next year, which will easily be top 5, and other picks and pieces to load OKC up for the rebuild.
Enes kanter? He will not get them that brooklyn pick.
Correct. THIS is the superstar teams like Boston and Philly have stockpiled assets for.
Please tell me you’re joking. Cousins has so much more value than Kanter it’s not even funny. That’s so far away from a possible trade.
You are not going to get full value for Cousins. Right now he has the tag of being a headache. They need to move him and rebuild.
Yes good idea and after trading Kanter for Cousins they should trade Adams for LeBron James and sign and trade Waiters to the Warriors and get Durant back.
Demarcus Cousins and others for westbrooke
Maybe if I could spell Westbrook*
How would that help the kings in any way
Idk if this would even work but it’s clear the Bucks need a star PG..what if it was like a Monroe/Vaughn/1st rounder and 2nd rounder for a year rental of Russell? The money is identical and Monroe comes off the books next year since he will opt out. Plus no matter where they trade Russell to if they do it’ll be a one year rental for a team since he’s already said he wants to hit the open market. This way OKC gets a young player in Vaughn and 2 picks
I don’t think they have a bad team without Durant honestly. Obviously not the same team but it’s not a horrible team at all
How would Kanter be any sort of centerpiece in such a deal? At the most he’s probably akin to Greg Monroe in value right now, who’s seen universally as a salary dump.
Sounds like a room exception deal. Mavis pouncing on locking him up before they figure out how to use the rest of their cap space.
Westbrook to Heat and Dragic and others to Thunder?
Does “others” include Winslow, Whiteside, and some picks? Dragic’s value isn’t even remotely close to Westbrook’s value.
After Durant signed with the Warriors, suddenly all these trades and signings seem to be mere footnotes to the main story of “Countdown to Crowning the G.S. Champs.”
What if the Celtics give up 2018 Brooklyn pick, smart, Hunter, brown and one of their own picks?
gonna take much more then that look what cavs gave up for love
both brooklyns thomas, brown prob more ….. not adding on your proprpsal BTW
id like the idea of westbrook to celtics lol
OKC sends PG Russell Westbrook to Boston for PG Isaiah Thomas, SF Jae Crowder, 2017 1st rd pk BKN, 2018 1st rd pk BKN, and 2020 1st rd pk BOS
Salaries 2017/2018/2019/2020
Westbrook $17,769,374
x
Thomas $6,587,131/ $6,261,394
Crowder $6,286,408/ $6,796,117/ $7,305,825/ $7,815,533
Westbrook, Morrow, McGary to Milwaukee for , Antetokounmpo, Parker, Middleton
Lol
Okafor or noel and our lakers first rounder next year for westbrook….hes only guaranteed here for 1 year
Thunder & Twolves trade
thunder get: Lavine, Shabazz and Rubio & 2017 & 2019 1st
Twolves get: Westbrook , Morrow & Collison
People on here got some insane ideas about what they will get for a 1 year Westbrook rental. Your not getting multiple picks and multiple young players keep dreaming. What incentive would he have to help you gut his new team anyhow he holds all the leverage all he has to say is he won’t resign.
Going a little too hard with the rosterbation on this thread. Chris has a bad case of it, he is a chronic rosterbater; it’s a disease, it really is.
Straight trade Westbrook for Blake Griffin. OKC needs the post presence and Westbrook and CP3 man the guard positions.
Not a good idea there is no way the clippers with give up lob city
Celtics trade next year’s Brooklyn pick and Bradley or smart for Westbrook it’s a rental so the celts would never give up multiple picks for a one year rental Thomas at point Russ at the two crowder at the 3 and Johnson and horford would make a nice run at the finals
Timberwolves give OKC Rubio and Lavine for Westbrook…only way OKC makes a trade is if it gets a couple young assets to build around. Wiggins, Towns and Westbrook would be fun to root for.
OKC sends PG Russell Westbrook to Boston for PG Isaiah Thomas, SF Jae Crowder, 2017 1st rd pk BKN, 2018 1st rd pk BKN, and 2020 1st rd pk BOS
Salaries 2017/2018/2019/2020
Westbrook $17,769,374
x
Thomas $6,587,131/ $6,261,394
Crowder $6,286,408/ $6,796,117/ $7,305,825/ $7,815,533
I like him to the Spurs. With Tim retiring and soon manu, might consider dissolving the old big three, three team trade the Spurs 2017 first round pick, with Parker to the Kings who now desperately need a point guard, send their top 10 protected pick to the thunder Ben mclemore and Rudy gay, who the Kings have been trying to get rid of, and Dejounte Murray to backup Payne the future starter for the thunder, the Spurs will then get Westbrook. This is obviously never gonna happen, but it’d work and I think would benefit all teams but the Kings, but they might be desperate enough for a starting point now that Collison is facing charges and rondo left, that they might make another stupid move like they have in the past. Then the thunder get some veteran help and a future pick to help rebuild, and the Spurs get a younger more athletic point in Westbrook, and if he can make smarter, less selfish decisions under pop teaching him, along with getting help shooting under one of the best shooting coaches in the NBA with chip engelland, the Spurs will be good enough to fight the Warriors.
maybe Westbrook to the heat for dragic 2nd rounder and Mcroberts. it’s a fair deal fits cap