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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In July, Durant announced his decision to team up with Stephen Curry and the Warriors, who eliminated his former team and Westbrook’s team from the playoffs last season.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook re-signed with the team on Thursday.
The structure of the deal is likely to be $26.5 million in 2016-17, $28.5 million in 2017-18, and $30.6 million in the third year. That rule is if you have played in the league for 10 or more seasons you can earn the maximum salary. “It’s easy for someone else to tell me what I should do”, Durant said. With numbers of speculations swirling around since Durant departed, one of those would be that Westbrook will also jump of the boat. That meant the Oklahoma city Thunder had to remove it’s qualifying offer to restricted free agent Dion Waiters to free up the salary cap to keep Westbrook.
A month after Kevin Durant broke Oklahoma City’s heart to sign with the Warriors, Russell Westbrook has reaffirmed his desire to stay with the Thunder. The Clippers forward is set to become a free agent next summer and the Thunder have the money to sign him. “We are just overjoyed that he will continue his career and his legacy with the Thunder”.
A player who won’t return next year cast a long shadow over Westbrook’s new contract: Kevin Durant. Westbrook will not be alone in the team as Victor Oladipo, Steven Adams and Enes Kanter are still good scorers. That would have allowed them to give him the full max for 2016-17-about $8 million extra-and ensure he wouldn’t bolt next summer in free agency.
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“Russell has been an outstanding leader of this team since he was drafted by our organization eight years ago”. Westbrook’s competitive side showed when he was asked if Durant’s leaving for Golden State (and not another team) made his departure sting more than it might have.
