As the franchise entered an era facing more doubt than ever before, Westbrook gallantly inked a three-year, $86 million extension, extinguishing any fear from an anxious, distressed fan base of where he stands.
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Renegotiating and extending Westbrook’s contract will bump the five-time All-Star’s pay from $17.8 million to $26.5 million for the 2016-17 season.
The key part of the deal is that the third year will be a player option at $30.6 million for 2018-2019.
Talks are centering around adding two more years to Westbrook’s current contract, which expires after next season.
After being blindsided by a Kevin Durant holiday departure back in July, the Thunder’s front office made perhaps its best possible remaining offseason move by signing the explosively athletic Westbrook in the middle of his prime.
As great and exciting as it is for Thunder fans to know they will have Westbrook in town for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t change the fact that the Golden State Warriors are the team to beat.
Speaking from Brazil on Thursday, Durant told the Boston Globe that he won’t be reaching out to Westbrook anytime soon to congratulate him on signing an extension with Oklahoma City.
“I understand free agency and I understand having an opportunity to go, but once that happened, I asked (Thunder GM) Sam (Presti), ‘What’s next?”
Westbrook was first-team All-NBA, and he has already been nominated by many sports bookies as one of the favorites to win the 2017 most valuable player award. “There is nowhere else I’d rather be than Oklahoma City”.
The biggest criticism of Russell Westbrook for years has been his alleged inability to defer to Durant.
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In the 2014-15 season, Westbrook got his season high with points as he averaged 28.1 points per game as he carried the load in the absence of Kevin Durant due to injuries. It’s good for the people in Oklahoma City that love to watch him play and love to have him on their team.
