Thunderuss: Russell Westbrook is Staying in OKC
A few years ago the long term Thunder dominance was about to begin. The 2012 NBA Finals saw one of the most exciting and dynamic teams in recent history, led by Kevin Durant at his scoring title best and ably assisted by the likes of Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and James Harden. What’s even more amazing is that all four of them were drafted by that same franchise. They went down in five games to LeBron James’ Miami Heat but no worries there, mate. This was the start of a dynasty.
Yeah… nah. Four years later and they haven’t been back to the Finals. What’s even more disappointing is that only one of those four dudes is still there. James Harden was the first to go, he wanted a max deal and a starting role and the Thunder were feeling short on offering either, so they traded him to the Houston Rockets where he immediately became an MVP candidate while the Thunder were lambasted for years for a horrible, horrible decision.
These days the emergence of Kiwi Steve Adams, he of the iron testicles, has soothed some of that drama – he was drafted with a pick from the Harden trade. They continued to be great without Harden, it was injuries that tended to ruin their playoff runs. This last time out they showed the makings of another special team with a fine run aided by a new crop of younger dudes, Adams, Enes Kanter and Andre Roberson - even Dion Waiters. But they fell agonising one game from the Finals when Klay Thompson had an all-timer of a shooting performance and the Warriors rallied to take it in seven. A few weeks later, Kevin Durant shocked the world by joining the Warriors in free agency.
That’s the state of it, that’s the story. The Thunder found themselves in quite the conundrum as Serge Ibaka’s and Russell Westbrook’s free agency followed a year on from Kevin Durant’s and while they bit the bullet with Serge likely to leave, trading him for what’s a pretty decent haul amounting to Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and Domantas Sabonis, they weren’t expecting to lose KD as well and the thought of him and Westbrook leaving for nothing but the memories was too much. Either Russ gave them the indication (preferably in the form of signature on paper) that he was in it beyond this season or they’d be forced to trade him.
Geez, that’d be a bust. Good thing the legend decided to re-sign then, aye?
The official deets haven’t been confirmed but word is we’re talking about a three year $85m max deal, worth an $8.8m pay rise for Russ himself. The third year is a player option which means that he can opt out and sign what’ll be an increased max deal then after ten years of NBA service. It’s not a long term thing but it’s still an enormous boost for the entire franchise, which was perched on the precipice until Russ’ decision.
Assuming he opts out of that final year, that means this is really only adding one year to his contract. That’s misleading though, because if he hadn’t signed this then the Thunder would have been looking to trade him ideally before the season started. He wouldn’t have been playing that year for OKC. And now he will be.
Bloody hell, there’s a lot to talk about here. At the time that Durant left, I wrote how I hoped Westbrook would stay and embrace the role of undisputed leader on the team and I’d like to think he read that and agreed. Remember how pissed he was when Mark Cuban suggested (erroneously) that he wasn’t a superstar? Well now we have the salivating spectacle of Russell Westbrook as the lone leader on this team, running the show in full revenge mode. It’s about as exciting a possibility as basketball can offer. He had a brief go without Durant two seasons ago and, while the team around him wasn’t as good and they mostly kept losing, as far as Russ went it was triple double after triple double. 82 games of that… wow.
And Westbrook isn’t a dude who was likely to be as swayed by outside influences as Kevin Durant anyway, he couldn’t care less about what people think of him. He’s not a guy with a large entourage nor is he a guy who hides too much about himself. When he speaks, he speaks honestly and that’s led to a bit of media hostility in the past as that side of him has also exposed the hyper-competitive side of himself but that’s who he is and he doesn’t apologise for that. Or for anything.
While for the Thunder, it’s all exhalation. Two more seasons with Russ means that even if he leaves at the end of that, they’ve still got the time to prepare for that. It won’t be a case of losing the three best players of their last couple years all at once. Fair to say that a backcourt of Westbrook and Oladipo is far from perfect – the decidedly average three point shooting of each is a worry – but it’s better than most teams. Same goes for a team that can fall back on a Kanter-Adams backcourt. Unfortunately in order to fit under the cap for the Russ extension they had to renounce Dion Waiters’ rights which led to him signing in Miami and taking away one of their best bench scorers but in his place comes Alex Abrines, a Spanish international currently at the Olympics who’d been stashed there for a while.
The roster’s all but set now. Cameron Payne will get more chances in his second year, Andre Roberson will probably start at SF. Ersan Ilyasova could start at PF with Enes Kanter closing in that possie. Steven Adams is the no doubter second best player on the roster now. Clearly they’ve taken a step back, although you also can’t count out the improvements that coach Billy Donovan will make in his second season – and he was pretty damn good in his first year. OKC still has a little bit of cap space, roughly $5.5m. They may use that or they may save it for another contract extension or a cap filler trade later in the season. There’s the mid-level exception to use also. If they can find a SG or SF that’ll hit threes and play some defence then they may be in business there.
It’s not the best team, to be fair. They should make the playoffs comfortably yet it’s hard to see them coming any closer to Golden State what with the Warriors taking their best player and all that. Still a lot to work with though. Steven Adams will add a few more strings to the bow with an expanded offensive game, probably a few more post ups and we’ll definitely the Ol’ Russ to Steve alley-oop a couple times. A couple hundred times. He’s now the defensive leader. He’ll be guarding the rim and covering for the other lads. Without KD or Serge you can expect those rebounding numbers to go up as well, although even still he wins a lot of boards simply by cleaning out the oppo big men so Westbrook or someone can swoop in and grab the loose ball. He’s eligible for an extension too now. The cap situation will decide whether it comes before or after the season but it’ll be coming.
You know, it’s funny how the perception of Westbrook has evolved over this last month. He’s always been one of the most entertaining players out there but there were also questions about his effect on others, about his undermining Durant at times, about whether he’s the kind of player you can build around. All of that was complete arse but it came from being the second best player on a team, playing like the first. The balance of credit given for wins and blame taken for losses was way out of synch.
That ain’t a problem anymore. Westbrook without Durant suddenly looks like a born leader. He looks like the kind of player anyone in the world would be thankful to have and you can bet that the Thunder fans are feeling that right now. Especially having come so close to losing what they had. In truth Westbrook has always been a leader, a guy who makes those around him better. Just ask those around him.
If he was undervalued before he’ll never be so again as long as he’s in Oklahoma City. Durant didn’t just leave, he left to a rival. The same rival that knocked them out of the playoffs. That’s a message right there, whether he intended it to be or not, and Westbrook then extending his deal is a message as well. The perception of him now is of a loyal, team-first man. A dude who is grateful for what he’s got and willing to give back. It’s not fair to contrast that with Durant but perception counts for a lot, misguided or not.
Ah, but the craziest thing here is not so much how that public dynamic between the two has flipped… but how a tight friendship has been compromised by it. Apparently Kevin Durant stayed in bed for two days after signing with the Warriors. Russell Westbrook says he spoke to Durant early in the process but not again and he found out about KD->GSW through texts and social media. Within days there were reports that possible on-court issues of chemistry between the two were a part of the decision, somebody from KD’s team more or less slandering Russ in the media if that story’s got any weight. Russ, meanwhile, was said to have “fumed about it for a couple weeks” until calling up Sam Presti and saying “right, what next?”
We’re talking about two dudes that have always had each other’s back. That have been the core of this team for eight years, the two of them coming of age in the NBA together. When Reggie Jackson was being a dick, they extricated him. When either was criticised publically they stood up for the other. When the franchise was criticised over trades or performances, they were defiant. In fact their defiance came to represent an almost siege mentality – us against the world. Their friendship, it was the Thunder. Nowadays…?
Russell Westbrook: “We've been together eight years. You don't throw that away. Obviously he's now with a new team. But we definitely will talk eventually. But obviously now we haven't.”
Possibly the tightest kinship in the NBA and for now at least it’s been shattered. There are others up there: Steph and Klay, Kyle and DeMar, Dirk and Cuban, LeBron and Winning, Harden and his Beard, etc. There is also The Stache Bros. Those are Russell’s boys now and they adore him, time to grow a moustache son.