Fresh start might be best for Westbrook
During his 11 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook has never publicly requested a trade or seriously flirted with his options in free agency.
That makes him a rarity among modern NBA superstars, but the eight-time allstar has had good reasons to stay: He has won a mantel full of individual awards, he has consistently played for winning teams, he has inked multiple lucrative contract extensions, and the community adores him.
The Thunder, in turn, has had good reasons to keep him. James Harden wanted to run his own show and was traded. Kevin Durant joined a big-market superteam in free agency. Paul George requested a trade to the Los Angeles Clippers just last week and is forming a new superstar partnership with Kawhi Leonard. Throughout such sharp twists and turns, Westbrook has delivered consistent effort, accumulated eye-popping statistical achievements and fostered a rare and deep connection with an entire state. His furious play and faithfulness have carried a franchise and a fan base through heartbreaking losses and unexpected departures. But the time has come to seriously weigh a split.
The George trade was an incredible asset grab by general manager Sam Presti, but it was also a cold admission that the Westbrook-George pairing simply wasn’t good enough to win a title. If Presti had truly believed the superstar duo could win it all, he would have had no logical reason to grant George’s trade request. Why break up a potential contender less than one month after the Golden State Warriors imploded?
A pair of toothless first-round exits provided all the evidence that Presti, George and Westbrook needed to conclude they weren’t going to get over the hump together. Oklahoma City’s roster was one of the most expensive in the league, yet its stars had precious little help in the playoffs and Presti had few options to improve the supporting cast this summer. Their winning formula was fundamentally broken, and there was no identifiable fix.
Three years ago, the Thunder responded to Durant’s departure by turning Westbrook loose. Through an extraordinary combination of athleticism and determination, he won the scoring title, earned MVP honors and posted the first triple-double season since Oscar Robertson’s 1961-62. But the lesson from that experience centered more on the limitations of a one-man-army approach than on Westbrook’s many strengths. His “Martyr-ball” style flopped badly in the playoffs and did not foster the type of functional team dynamic necessary for sustained success.
The Thunder should have no desire to go down that road to nowhere again. Neither should the 30-year-old Westbrook, whose individual game slipped noticeably last season and whose sidekick has now abandoned him. The sequel to “Westbrook vs. the World” is guaranteed to be darker and less successful than the original, and Presti will be hard-pressed to find another superstar to pair with his mercurial point guard.
While Westbrook needed to prove that he could carry his own team three years ago, he now must prove that he can win in the playoffs without Durant’s help. No amount of 30-point games or triple-doubles will answer his critics at this stage of his career, so there’s little for him to add to his personal legacy by remaining in Oklahoma City. A partnership with George was supposed to help him reshape his reputation, but that rug has been pulled out from under him. If Westbrook gets more respect for his craft, a better opportunity to win or even just a fresh start, it will need to come somewhere else.
The Thunder has good reasons to move on, too. Westbrook, who is set to make $170 million over the next four years, was overpaid last year, and his value is only going to get worse as his age-related decline deepens. There are numerous reasons to believe his game won’t age well: poor shot selection, weak three-point shooting, multiple knee surgeries and a single-minded approach that relies heavily on his physical gifts. Simply put, his bad contract could soon be borderline untradeable. Why wait to find out the hard way?
Past that, Oklahoma City has little to gain by halfway rebuilding. Westbrook’s continued presence would prevent the Thunder from bottoming out. Presti originally assembled his core of Durant, Westbrook and Harden with top-five picks, and that’s the surest path for him to construct another long-term winner in such a small market. The Thunder will be pursuing a youth movement sooner or later, and there’s no strong argument to delay the inevitable.
The Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons have been mentioned as possible partners in a Westbrook deal, and all parties should welcome the idea. Westbrook would be far better suited to life in the Eastern Conference, where he would continue to be recognized as an all-star for the foreseeable future against substantially weaker competition. The Thunder needs to get younger, cheaper, more financially flexible. And middle-of-thepack teams such as Miami and Detroit could benefit from Westbrook’s star power and sell their fan bases on the short-term benefits of bouncing up into the conference’s second tier.
Westbrook has been such a mainstay in Oklahoma City that at first glance it’s difficult to imagine the Thunder without him. The longer one ponders, though, the clearer it becomes that their union is now built on sheer loyalty and little else.