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Forever a Thunder? Russell Westbrook: ‘Oklahoma City Is A Place That I Want To Be”
After Kevin Durant left for Golden State last summer, Russell Westbrook advertised himself as a ‘OKC-loyal’ superstar. Possibly too much to eventually spin and leave.
But leaving Oklahoma isn’t anything more than an option. An option Russell Westbrook most likely won’t embrace.
The Oklahoma City Thunder want to sign Westbrook to a contract extension worth $207 million over five years this coming summer. That’s the same amount Westbrook is projected to make as a free agent in 2018.
So what benefit would Westbrook have if he signed the extension? First and foremost, security. A decline seems not very likely, but you never know if you’ll get injured, possibly career threatening.
On the other hand, Westbrook is so good, that he probably would get a max contract even if he was injured, so basically he loses flexibility when signing the extension.
When asked if he wanted to sign the extension by ESPN’s Rocye Young, Westbrook responded:
That’s something, like I said, I haven’t thought about anything, obviously. Everybody knows that I like Oklahoma City and I love being here and I love everybody here. But I haven’t even thought about that. Obviously, Oklahoma City is a place that I want to be.”
While I think that it is very likely for Russ to sing the extension this summer, the situation for OKC in case he doesn’t, becomes tricky. The Thunder would definitely be concerned about their cances of resigning Westbrook in the summer of 2018.
