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Russell Westbrook has signed a multi-year extension, the Thunder announced Thursday. It’s a five-year extension worth $80 million via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The deal was finalized Wednesday night.
“We are thrilled to solidify Russell’s future with the Thunder,” said Sam Presti. “Since we arrived in Oklahoma City, Russell’s work ethic, persistence, character, and involvement in our community have helped us establish the standards that we are committed to on a day-to-day basis. He is a valued member of our organization and we look forward to his continued contributions on and off the floor.”
A news conference will be held when the Thunder return from their road trip Sunday.
“We are very excited that Russell will continue to be a part of the Thunder organization,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Clay Bennett. “He has demonstrated high personal character, a strong commitment to his teammates and a remarkable dedication to the development of his performance as a player. We especially value his role in the community as he has consistently represented “Oklahoma City Basketball” with pride and integrity.”
Westbrook always wanted to stay with the Thunder if the price could be right. And it was, with an extension being signed with days to spare before the Jan. 25 deadline.
As of now, the Thunder are in position to be able to re-sign James Harden and Serge Ibaka. It can be done. Contracts are a confusing thing, and right now, I don’t know if Westbrook is eligible for the extra five percent “Rose Rule” bump. But with Durant getting some 30 percent of the cap and Westbrook 25 percent, the Thunder should have money under the luxury tax line to re-sign both Harden and Ibaka. At least as I understand it.
Chris Mannix of SI.com tweeted: “Westbrook agreed to the regular max, which guarantees him 25 percent of Thunder cap next season. He could have held out for the supermax.” Which would mean that Westbrook wouldn’t be hogging that extra five percent potentially, meaning he left some money on the table. Which means all that noise about Russell Westbrook being selfish and whatnot is totally bogus. He’s a team guy who wants to win and he proved it with this contract.
Sam Amick of SI.com says that Westbrook’s extension is locked at the 25 percent, meaning he won’t get the Rose bump regardless of his season. Which is absolutely huge. And does indeed mean Westbrook took less money to help the Thunder keep things together. Also, like Durant, he didn’t have an opt-out clause put in, meaning he’s in OKC as long as possible.
Westbrook and Durant together for the long-term with more room to grow. In summary, great day for Oklahoma City and the Thunder.
Great signing and thank you Russell for helping small market OKC to possibly keep all the pieces. russell is a big time team player to me.
@TJ77 Haven't you heard? Great players don't want to stay in small, back-water joints like OKC. LOL
Suck on it, David Stern
@RealSkipBayless says "Thunder signing Westbrook bad news. Wants to be bigger star than Durant. Gunner point guard. He, KD will clash. Hard to win title this way."
He is way wrong on this one.
@C-Wil@realskipbayless Hmmm...should I trust Presti or Dickless, I mean Bayless. I think I'll go with Presti on that one.
@courtsense @C-Wil Why do u continue to follow him? He's a troll and ur just feeding into it by being one of his followers
@C-Wil@realskipbayless skip gets paid to troll im starting to get sick of his schtick its gettin played.
So, with contract signed, Russ will focus only on playing as best as he can.
...i hope so.
@ILikePancakes Although there are certainly players where you need to worry about that (Z-Bo! Curry! Insert former Knicks player here!), I doubt Russ is one of them. I think there's enough hate out there to fuel him for eternity,
Skip the troll right on time with his hating and he claims he "like" the team foh.
I would have loved Westbrook at Rondo money (who wouldn't?), but this is a solid deal to keep the core together. I think as of current performance, he will be slightly overpaid, but I have a hunch that a 23-year-old point guard who didn't really play the position until the pros has room for improvement. Not to mention his value to the fanbase.
Glad this deal was done, and overjoyed that it isn't a Rose rule contract.
Oscar Robertson, Penny Hardaway, Lebron James, Chris Paul and RUSSELL WESTBROOK.
That is the COMPLETE LIST of players in NBA HISTORY who have scored 4,000 points, dished 1,500 assists and pulled down 1,000 rebounds in their first three years in the NBA.
@RRRWHOAAAA Yeah, those are all selfish players.
@RRRWHOAAAA Penny was the shit
@persiansooner@RRRWHOAAAA Lil' Penny was even Better!
@Air Bud@persiansooner The secret service cant guard me!
@persiansooner@RRRWHOAAAA Hell yeah he was. I was so obsessed with him as a kid. Injuries ruining his career was one of the more traumatic events of my childhood.
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@deleted_1998213_Don'tStoptheSergeing There are several folks on this board with a higher BBIQ than either of these guys.
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@deleted_1998213_Don'tStoptheSergeing I hope no NBA players start thinking RW is the best player on the Thunder, because boy would that be a rude awakening.
@deleted_1998213_Don'tStoptheSergeing Bucher is more right then he is wrong
@deleted_1998213_Don'tStoptheSergeing The real answer is somewhere between those viewpoints.
RUSS! RUSS! RUSS!
Now let's go win 5 rings.
@D@nny How about 7 so it's the best franchise of all time with the best player of all time
yea, makes up 4 last night
After this information, i totally don't care that we lost with Wizards.
Westbrook never ceases to amaze the world with his actions! People may hate on him all the time but he's my favorite player on this team because he is that guy that made taking the step from being your run-of-the-mill playoff team to being a contender!
This is the best news I've had all day.
Takes the sting out of last night a bit, I guess...
Zach Lowe's take: http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/01/19/thunder-wise-to-give-young-all-star-russell-westbrook-five-year-extension/
A super solid general scouting report in that article along with his take on our cap situation. With apologies to Royce, Zach Lowe is in a class of his own among general NBA writers (although Pelton is probably right behind him)
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@deleted_1998213_Don'tStoptheSergeing The working assumption is that the owners don't have the revenue stream to support a tax-paying team. We obviously have more flexibility if they're willing to spend more, but even if that's the case, I'd still be interested in dealing Ibaka for a pick, mainly because I don't think Ibaka will be worth whatever he ends up getting paid.
@SammyThunderer Yeah as most of the owners run businesses that are private we really don't know what state their finances are in. I tried to get as much info as I could and the closest i could get is bennett represents at least 2B in assets, mclendon 1.2B ward 150 million, the rest are probably sub 100 million, but that amount still is more than cuban, though he allocates more to basketball I am sure.
I agree...I've also been a little disappointed in Ibaka so far this year. I thought his jumper was looking pretty solid last season, but it feels like he's searching for it again. (Or maybe I'm looking at the wrong times...)
I'm glad that you mentioned the attempts at the rim, because it's *felt* like that.
Like last night, he got the ball under the basket, totally unguarded, and it still took him a second to go up and dunk it. He needs to take some "angry lessons" from perk.
That ball made fun of your mom! Smash it through that hoop!
@Landstander I'm reasonably confident in his jumper and my estimation of him would improve if he could incorporate a 3p shot (which I still believe he could hit with decent consistency). Oddly, he's been way less aggressive around the rim. His dunk frequency is way down this season and he's averaging only 1.6 fga attempts at the rim per game, down from 3.2 last year.
It leaves us room to resign harden to a 4 year deal instead of a 5 but we can definitely sign him with a good contract too!
Russ definitely wanted to stay in OKC and was willing to leave money on the table for the better of the team.
Can anyone tell me why Nick Collison has never been given the starting nod? I mean I've watching him since he was drafted in Seattle and he keeps getting slighted for "more athletic" or "more potential" power forward.
I pose this question in relation to the extending of Harden and Ibaka in that if we sign harden and have to lose Ibaka could Nick be a viable option to step in as a starter?
it makes me think that Ibaka as a starter will inherently increase his blocks per game and in the same vien would Nick not increase his charges per game?
Just a thought on this very very happy day!
@ThunderBelize Why doesn't Nick start? Because we don't need him to...plus, the punch that he brings to the 2nd team with Harden is greater than how much of an improvement he is over Serge. If we were the flip-flop Nick and Serge, the first team might be somewhat better, but Harden would lose a tremendous amount of basketball IQ with which to work.
@ThunderBelize it might happen if we can't afford ibaka.
Keeping Harden is a no-brainer. It will be interesting to see how they handle Ibaka...he has value and yet he's also the most easily replaceable of the core group.
@courtsense The Spurs already showed how to work this small-market model: 3 core players that compose the bulk of your payroll, and fill out the rest with cheap vets and players on rookie deals. You can't get attached to any of your role players, and you don't do any mid-level deals.
@SammyThunderer@courtsense You are exactly right and let me add, stash an abundance amount of players in the international leagues.
@Air Bud That too.
@SammyThunderer Dead on...which is why Ibaka probably doesn't last much longer. There are 6-10 PF's who can run, jump, dunk, block shots, but with bad hands in every draft.
@courtsense we already have the rights to one, latavious willliams.
No opt out took less then he could on the market but hes a selfish player according to everyone? smh
@Lost Ones No opt out and less $$$ than he could have gotten...says a lot about RW's commitment to the this team and the organization. Color me impressed.
I like this
Kevin Durant @KDTrey53m Reply Retweeted Favorite · Open
@JHarden13 knows where home is RT @TYRESEosaurus: Talk Harden into staying please “@KDTrey5 Words cant explain how happy I am 4 @russwest44
@gr8ball83@russwest44 A little odd that KD had to find out about Westbrook contract via Twitter.
@Air Bud @gr8ball83 Whys that odd? I don't think Durant would or should get involved in money talks...and I'm sure kd prob found out before hand but wanted to give him a shot out
@LPCes99@gr8ball83per KD tweet @KDTrey5 " Words can't explain how happy I am for @russwest44, signing his new deal, just upset I found out about it on twitter smh lol love u bro"