The Thunder are hoping to lock up Russell Westbrook before he comes a free agent next summer, with the long-term plan reportedly being to pair him with OKC native and fellow All-Star Blake Griffin.
To clear space for a potential Westbrook contract extension, OKC rescinded their qualifying offer to Dion Waiters (who may or not be headed home to Philly.)
Russ and his reps have yet to commit to any sort of renegotiation since Kevin Durant’s departure earlier this month.
Per Yahoo:
For Westbrook, the most likely scenario for a renegotiation would be to use the Thunder’s cap space to guarantee he will stay under contract with the Thunder through the 2017-18 season. This would give Oklahoma City the chance to recruit one of its top targets – 2017 free agent and Oklahoma native Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers – to partner with Westbrook, league sources said.
The Houston Rockets recently completed a similar renegotiation with All-Star guard James Harden.
Westbrook and his agent, Thad Foucher of Wasserman Media Group, have been in regular contact with Thunder general manager Sam Presti since Kevin Durant’s departure on July 4, but Westbrook has yet to make a commitment to renegotiate his contract and forgo free agency in 2017, league sources said. […] Nevertheless, Westbrook is a proponent of the young talent on the Thunder roster and is eager to lead the team in the 2016-17 season, sources said. So far, league sources said, teams that have reached out to the Thunder about trading for Westbrook have been told that he isn’t available.
