Russell Westbrook may not get a chance to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder via free agency. With Kevin Durant gone, the Thunder hope to sign Westbrook to a contract extension this summer. If that doesn’t happen, Westbrook may be on the move.
“If Westbrook chooses not to extend his contract this summer, multiple league executives told ESPN they believe the Thunder will consider fielding trade offers for Westbrook,” per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
In a vacuum, this makes sense. Either lock up the other franchise player or get something for him. In black and white, it’s perfectly logical. The problem is that we don’t live in a vacuum, and this isn’t black and white.
It’s awfully hard to see Westbrook signing an extension with Oklahoma City this year. The salary cap is set to significantly increase following the 2016-17 season. With that, max contracts will also increase. So, signing now and missing out on free agency in 2017 will cost Westbrook millions of dollars. Westbrook knows that. His agents certainly know that. Signing an extension now would be an awful business decision.
So, that means he should be traded, right? Not exactly.
Because of the challenge that would come with extending Westbrook, it’s hard to imagine the Thunder getting top value for him in a trade. As great as Westbrook is, he is a rental, or at least a potential rental.
What team would give up significant assets for a guy who might only be there for one year? Yes, acquiring Westbrook would give his new team the ability to spend more on him next year. But Oklahoma City had that exact same advantage with Durant. How well did that work out?
Shopping Westbrook is fine. But the Thunder can’t be desperate to trade him. If that happens, Oklahoma City will be significantly set back for a long time.