Russell Westbrook will be always nothing if not different. From his unmatchable, violent approach to the game, his fashion curation and detachment with the media, Westbrook is a perennial MVP candidate and commercially viable superstar that doesn’t do anything like anyone else.
Signing a three-year, $85 million extension with the Thunder exactly a month after Kevin Durant left the franchise and less than a year before he could also become a free agent is another special Westbrook-only move. Westbrook chose one additional season of loyalty, more guaranteed short-term money and perhaps a type of solo revenge.
The extension isn’t purely symbolic but it does only gives the Thunder one additional season of control as he can become a free agent now in 2018. Oklahoma City presumably told Westbrook they would trade him if he didn’t agree upon an extension and this allows both parties to be in the same exact position they were this summer a year from now next summer.
The Thunder nearly made The Finals with Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka along with their supporting core. Now the Thunder will need to compete against an improved Warriors team without Durant and Ibaka, but with a fully unleashed, fully anointed Westbrook and the additions of Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and Dontas Motiejunas. Westbrook staying with the Thunder for 16-17 without the real possibility of a February trade will be one of the more interesting NBA subplots from an entrainment perspective. The three or four matchups against the Warriors in the regular season and the possibility of meeting again in the playoffs will be the most watched nights in the NBA calendar, but every night of Westbrook on his own with the Thunder will be watched and Vine’d.
At least for one season, Westbrook and the Thunder are completely going for it. The Thunder will aspire to become their own version of last year’s Blazers with perhaps a little more upside since Westbrook is a superior player than Damian Lillard at this point in their careers. If that’s enough for Westbrook indefinitely, we’ll still find out a year from now.
The 2017 NBA Draft is completely loaded with with 12 freshmen projected in the top-15. Tearing it down by trading away Westbrook to Boston for the 2017 Brooklyn pick, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart while signing Steven Adams to an extension and trading away Enes Kanter would be the more prudent, dispassionate long-term move. The Thunder would have their own very high lottery pick and the Nets’ pick to again do what Sam Presti so expertly did between 2007 and 2009 by drafting Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and James Harden.
The end goal of a GM that accumulates draft picks is to end up with a player like Westbrook, so you never trade him when you don’t have to but it does very little good to have him if you can’t eventually build a title around him. Westbrook is capable of being an antihero on an anti-superteam filled with role players, but it’s difficult to see the current construction of the Oklahoma City roster facilitating that vision. There’s not enough shooting and defense around Westbrook and that’s been the story throughout Oklahoma City’s playoff runs. The Thunder were the best team in the NBA at one point in May but improvisationally bandaging up this team with role players hasn’t been the strongest part of their history. The process of trading away Harden, trading picks for former lottery picks like Kaner and Dion Waiters, trading Ibaka for former lottery picks like Oladipo and current ones like Sabonis all make sense but none have been the right acquisitions except for the pick that became Adams.
Letting Westbrook play out 16-17 and possibly leaving in 2017 without any return would have been catastrophic for the Thunder, so this extension at least eliminates that prospect. The opportunity to make a similar decision one year from now with the possibility of signing Blake Griffin is a risk worth taking but sitting out the potentially historic 2017 draft class could be a long-term mistake that puts the franchise back in a more subtle way.
Grade for Thunder: B-
While the Thunder made their decision from a place of judiciousness, it is difficult to see Westbrook choosing to commit an extra season for reasons other than stubborn ones. Westbrook receives more money in the short-term but he puts himself at one more season of risk before getting a long-term deal while also removing one potential season of title contention from his career. Westbrook figures to have a shorter peak than someone like Durant as uber athletic point guards who can’t shoot efficiently from distance don’t age as well.
It is an admirable decision for Westbrook to soldier on with the Thunder and see what he can achieve as a solo artist but he’s doing it with the wrong supporting cast and the wrong franchise. The Celtics could have traded a package for Westbrook that accelerates Oklahoma City’s rebuild while also becoming instant title contenders.
Financially, Westbrook just needs to hang in there to continue to being healthy and dominant until 2018 when he can sign his 35 percent supermax to make the money work long-term. Whether it’s been Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and even Kevin Love, no player of Westbrook’s caliber has made this type of decision in recent years. It’s his own path even if it’s just a postponement of one year.
Grade for Russell Westbrook: C+
