After the dust had finally settled following Kevin Durant’s free agency decision, there was still a lot of concern over what was going to happen next. The Oklahoma City Thunder had just lost one superstar player, and they were one year away from possibly losing another. All eyes turned to the highly explosive Russel Westbrook. With his free agency only one year away, fans were preparing for the worst. To make matters worse, the Thunder had considered trying to trade him sometime this season so at least they would get something in return when he left. Needless to say, there wasn’t a lot of hope that Westbrook would stick around. Then all of a sudden, the most unlikely thing happened.
Westbrook signed a three-year extension to stay with the Thunder. And just like that, Russel Westbrook went from being the sidekick to the hero all in about a week. People are praising Westbrook for his loyalty at a level that is almost ridiculous. However, if you look at the recent past of sports teams, a player that stays with his team like that is almost unheard of. It was becoming the norm that players would leave behind their legacy for bigger and better things, and would only stay if they had recruited someone like LeBron James or Chris Bosh to come play with them.
So in a sense Westbrook is a strange case in this era of sports, and it is very refreshing to finally see a world class athlete pay back the fans by staying with them rather than ditching them for a ring. I can only hope that the gesture was a genuine one. As much as I’m sure it is because I believe Westbrook to be a genuine kind of person, I hope he didn’t feel obligated to do it since Durant left.
One thing is for sure though, we are going to see a Westbrook that we only got a glimpse of a few years ago. The Westbrook that is the lone superstar on the team. We are about to see the triple-double machine at work. This man carried the Thunder two seasons ago when Durant was out with an injury. Even without Durant, they managed to finish one game out of the playoffs. But that was two years ago. A lot has changed since then. Steven Adams has emerged into one of the best centers in the league, and though they lost Durant, they did pick up Victor Oladipo who is a good player in his own right. I believe that the Thunder will be back in the playoffs this year despite the loss of Durant, and when they do get back there, I can only hope they play the Golden State Warriors for what would almost certainly be one of the most intense playoff series I will ever watch.