Thunder Hope To Pair Blake Griffin With Russell Westbrook In 2017

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been in regular contact with Russell Westbrook and his agent Thad Foucher since the departure of Kevin Durant.

Westbrook has yet to make a commitment to renegotiate and extend his contract with the Thunder. Westbrook is scheduled to be a free agent in 2017.

Westbrook is a proponent of the Oklahoma City roster and is eager to lead the team this coming season.

The Thunder would like to pursue Blake Griffin in 2017 free agency to partner with Westbrook. Griffin is a native of Oklahoma.

The Los Angeles Clippers will have to contend with the free agencies of both Griffin and Chris Paul in 2017.

[Hubert44]

I thought of this when I saw Griffin would be a free agent in 2017 but dismissed it because: (1) OKC never seems to chase big-time free agents (2) I assumed Griffin had developed a taste for being out in L.A.

They might be right back on track if they signed Griffin. You could argue that Westbrook meshes better with [a healthy] Griffin than with K.D.

[Bentley1225]

They could use the Kanter contract along with other assets to help acquire Griffin by incorporating a 3rd team at trade deadline depending on where Clippers are at.

[andyjinkim]

They could use the Kanter contract along with other assets to help acquire Griffin by incorporating a 3rd team at trade deadline depending on where Clippers are at.

..or just wait until Griffin is a free agent and not lose any assets at all

[BeGreezy]

I thought of this when I saw Griffin would be a free agent in 2017 but dismissed it because: (1) OKC never seems to chase big-time free agents (2) I assumed Griffin had developed a taste for being out in L.A.

They might be right back on track if they signed Griffin. You could argue that Westbrook meshes better with [a healthy] Griffin than with K.D.

They never chase big time free agents because they had KD, Westbrook, Ibaka eating up most their salary. No way would they be able to add another big free agent because they had no room. Why else would they have opted to not re-sign Harden? No more cap room

[PDXKnight]

They aren't gonna be better with Blake than they were with KD. It's a nice plan in theory to add a superstar like Blake griffin but I question their ability to sign him

[Furinkazan]

yeah Blake would only score after offensive rebound

[Goner]

This is a weird instance of non-news, as even though Blake is an OKC native, Russ is an LA native. The opposite could easily be said.

[Tim Reynolds]

This is a weird instance of non-news, as even though Blake is an OKC native, Russ is an LA native. The opposite could easily be said.

Except the Clippers already have Chris Paul at the PG so that wouldn't be a good thing to say if your thinking of resigning him, while OKC has Ilyasova, Nick Collison, and rookie Sabonis at PF, two of whom you don't care if you offend, and the last who is a rookie so you REALLY don't care what he has to say. ;D

Although I'd be interested in seeing a Paul/Westbrook/Griffin/Jordan team, ESPECIALLY if Griffin gets the 3-pointer going this year.

[bwgood77]

They aren't gonna be better with Blake than they were with KD. It's a nice plan in theory to add a superstar like Blake griffin but I question their ability to sign him

Do they need to be better if they get him? They thumped the Spurs in the playoffs and had GS on the ropes and KD was a big reason as to why they blew it.

Being just as good with him would put you in immediate contender status.

[Cuban Pete]

What's that word I'm looking for? Hmmm. Begins with a "t".

[PDXKnight]

They aren't gonna be better with Blake than they were with KD. It's a nice plan in theory to add a superstar like Blake griffin but I question their ability to sign him

Do they need to be better if they get him? They thumped the Spurs in the playoffs and had GS on the ropes and KD was a big reason as to why they blew it.

Being just as good with him would put you in immediate contender status.

But is Russell Westbrook gonna stick it out until Blake makes a decision? Ultimately a lot of teams could add Blake griffin and instantly be much better, I think it's far from a foregone conclusion Westbrook or Blake would be willing to wait long enough during free agency to give okc the chance to get those 2 on the same team

[haste10176]

They could use the Kanter contract along with other assets to help acquire Griffin by incorporating a 3rd team at trade deadline depending on where Clippers are at.

..or just wait until Griffin is a free agent and not lose any assets at all

Yeah but if they trade they get his bird rights... Right... Then they can offer him more to stay... Plus would probably need to clear some cap space anyway...

[bwgood77]

They aren't gonna be better with Blake than they were with KD. It's a nice plan in theory to add a superstar like Blake griffin but I question their ability to sign him

Do they need to be better if they get him? They thumped the Spurs in the playoffs and had GS on the ropes and KD was a big reason as to why they blew it.

Being just as good with him would put you in immediate contender status.

But is Russell Westbrook gonna stick it out until Blake makes a decision? Ultimately a lot of teams could add Blake griffin and instantly be much better, I think it's far from a foregone conclusion Westbrook or Blake would be willing to wait long enough during free agency to give okc the chance to get those 2 on the same team

They don't even have the cap space to sign them both (and it would be pretty much impossible to give them both maxes under any circumstance), so none of that really matters. My statement was in reference to your "They aren't going to be any better with Blake than with KD" which I thought was an odd thing to say in response to them wanting to sign him. As if they shouldn't go after anyone now because no one else will make them as good as they were with KD.

[PDXKnight]

Do they need to be better if they get him? They thumped the Spurs in the playoffs and had GS on the ropes and KD was a big reason as to why they blew it.

Being just as good with him would put you in immediate contender status.

But is Russell Westbrook gonna stick it out until Blake makes a decision? Ultimately a lot of teams could add Blake griffin and instantly be much better, I think it's far from a foregone conclusion Westbrook or Blake would be willing to wait long enough during free agency to give okc the chance to get those 2 on the same team

They don't even have the cap space to sign them both (and it would be pretty much impossible to give them both maxes under any circumstance), so none of that really matters. My statement was in reference to your "They aren't going to be any better with Blake than with KD" which I thought was an odd thing to say in response to them wanting to sign him. As if they shouldn't go after anyone now because no one else will make them as good as they were with KD.

Wasn't referring to what OKC should or shouldn't do, was merely saying a player like Blake Griffin isn't gonna look at OKC as his shot to win a championship when KD who is a tier above him was unable to win a championship in OKC with a similar supporting cast.

[Pickled Prunes]

But is Russell Westbrook gonna stick it out until Blake makes a decision? Ultimately a lot of teams could add Blake griffin and instantly be much better, I think it's far from a foregone conclusion Westbrook or Blake would be willing to wait long enough during free agency to give okc the chance to get those 2 on the same team

They don't even have the cap space to sign them both (and it would be pretty much impossible to give them both maxes under any circumstance), so none of that really matters. My statement was in reference to your "They aren't going to be any better with Blake than with KD" which I thought was an odd thing to say in response to them wanting to sign him. As if they shouldn't go after anyone now because no one else will make them as good as they were with KD.

Wasn't referring to what OKC should or shouldn't do, was merely saying a player like Blake Griffin isn't gonna look at OKC as his shot to win a championship when KD who is a tier above him was unable to win a championship in OKC with a similar supporting cast.

A good point... although Durant may be several tiers above Griffin and I'm not sure what the floor spacing looks like with Griffin paired with Adams or Kanter.

[bwgood77]

But is Russell Westbrook gonna stick it out until Blake makes a decision? Ultimately a lot of teams could add Blake griffin and instantly be much better, I think it's far from a foregone conclusion Westbrook or Blake would be willing to wait long enough during free agency to give okc the chance to get those 2 on the same team

They don't even have the cap space to sign them both (and it would be pretty much impossible to give them both maxes under any circumstance), so none of that really matters. My statement was in reference to your "They aren't going to be any better with Blake than with KD" which I thought was an odd thing to say in response to them wanting to sign him. As if they shouldn't go after anyone now because no one else will make them as good as they were with KD.

Wasn't referring to what OKC should or shouldn't do, was merely saying a player like Blake Griffin isn't gonna look at OKC as his shot to win a championship when KD who is a tier above him was unable to win a championship in OKC with a similar supporting cast.

Well I doubt a player like Griffin looks at another player and says "Oh, that guys a tier above me, so ________________". I wouldn't normally think he would go to OKC, but I thought about it and posted it on the Thunder forum right after Durant left since he was born and grew up in OKC, and then went to OU for college, so I figured if he wasn't in a rush to get out of OKC back then when he could have gone to college anywhere, he might be the ONE star player who wouldn't be opposed to signing as a free agent in OKC.

But it doesn't sound like they could fit him AND Westbrook in with max contracts anyway, according to the posters in the OKC forum.