Westbrook laid Thunder groundwork
Mark Daigneault wasn’t asked about Russell Westbrook’s legacy with the Thunder, but the first-year coach went out of his way to address it Monday night after a loss to Westbrook and the Wizards.
“When our guys are shooting in our gym, the fact that he’s been in that gym and shot at our baskets, he laid a lot of groundwork in this organization that we appreciate and respect the hell out of,” Daigneault said.
“I’ll just say that right off the bat. I think it goes without saying, but I just wanna make sure that’s on record.”
Westbrook will make his second return trip to Oklahoma City when the Thunder hosts the Wizards at 7 p.m. Friday. Westbrook’s first game back was a celebration. Friday night won’t have the same feel.
A sellout crowd jumped from their seats and roared for No. 0 last January, not caring, at least ever so briefly, that he was wearing a white Rockets jersey. The Thunder crushed the Rockets that night, but Westbrook put on a show at his old stomping grounds with 34 points on 14-of-26 shooting.
It was the best of both worlds for the OKC faithful — a Thunder win and Westbrook doing Westbrook things.
Now another year has passed, Westbrook has changed teams once more and the arena will be empty of fans to welcome Westbrook home.
Westbrook last suited up for the Thunder on April 23, 2019, when Damian Lillard waved goodbye in Portland. As Westbrook faces the Thunder exactly two years later, there will be no reunion with his former teammates.
Like Westbrook, they’ve all been traded or moved on.
When Daigneault talked about Westbrook getting shots up at the Thunder’s practice facility, not one of the 17 players on the Thunder’s current roster were around then to see it.
“We have a lot of new faces, we have a young team, but we have a unique opportunity where our logo has a sense of purpose, at least inside of our building,” Daigneault said.
Daigneault, who coached the G League Blue in Westbrook’s last five seasons with the Thunder, named Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka as players who gave the Thunder logo meaning.
“It gives us all something to chase and live up to and try to sustain,” Daigneault said. “And obviously we’re gonna have to try to evolve it. We’re not living in the past in any sense of it.
“It’s also something that’s pretty motivating for our players and everybody that’s in the organization, to start building the same sort of sustainable model that was built here for such a long time by those players.”
The Thunder’s next phase will be partially built on the generous return it got for Westbrook from Houston. Call it Westbrook’s last assist.
The Thunder traded Westbrook to the Rockets for Chris Paul, two firstround picks and two pick swaps. One of those swaps is for this summer’s 2021 draft, and as of Thursday, there’s a 48% chance Houston’s pick, protected 1-4, will fall to the Thunder at No. 5.
OKC’s full return from the trade won’t be known until 2026, when the last pick comes through, but Sam Presti and company have already won the deal.
Paul, after a resurgent season with the Thunder, was flipped with Abdel Nader to Phoenix for Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick.
The Thunder traded Oubre to Golden State for more draft compensation. The Thunder sent Rubio to Minnesota to move up in the 2020 draft and select Aleksej Pokusevski. The Pacers gave the Thunder a second-round pick for Lecque.
Jerome, meanwhile, still is in Oklahoma City. The second-year point guard is averaging 9.9 points, 3.7 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 40% from 3-point range.
All of those players and picks can be traced back to Westbrook, who played one season in Houston before the Rockets traded him to the Wizards for John Wall and a first-round pick.
In Westbrook’s 11 seasons, the Thunder won 61% of its games, made the Western Conference Finals four times and the NBA Finals once in 2012. Westbrook was an eight-time All Star in Oklahoma City and the league’s MVP in 2016-17.
Westbrook ranks first in Thunder history in points (18,859), rebounds (5,760), assists (6,897), steals (1,442) and several other categories.
He played more than 28,000 minutes with the Thunder.
“We hadn’t played against Russell this year,” Daigneault said of recognizing Westbrook, “and I just felt like it was necessary to say that, and then not take for granted the amount of time and the contributions that he made to this organization.”