With Paul George now bound for Los Angeles to play with Kawhi Leonard on the Clippers, Russell Westbrook’s future with the Oklahoma City Thunder is now in question.
The face of the franchise is set to make $38.5 million in 2019-20 and remains under contract until 2022-23, when he’ll make $47 million. He also has a player option for 2022, though, given the payday he has coming his way, it wouldn’t make sense for him to forego the final year of his max deal. The size of his contract makes it tough to move Westbrook, but Thunder may try to find a way to do it.
ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting Thunder general manager Sam Presti is now “engaged” with Russell Westbrook and his agent, Thad Foucher, “about the next steps of Westbrook’s career, including the possibility of a trade prior to the start of next season.”
A trade would put the Thunder into full rebuild mode. Given the haul the Thunder received from the Clippers, it would make sense to move on from Westbrook now so he could compete elsewhere, while the Thunder grow.
The two sides have 11 years of history together and both understand that the time has likely come to explore trade possibilities for Westbrook…
