The Oklahoma City Thunder have just been eliminated from the playoffs by the Houston Rockets. Their star player Russell Westbrook seemed to run out of gas in game five after carrying his team through the entire regular season and postseason. His teammates failed to offer him any assistance, struggling to produce points on the offensive end. It was even worse when Westbrook needed to rest, as the Thunder were completely lost on offense when he was off the court. The Thunder have to make some big moves this offseason if they want to get further into the playoffs and possibly into a championship.
We all know Russell Westbrook wants to win, but is the Thunder Front Office just as committed?
History Repeats Itself
The Thunder at one point had a big four of their own, and they were one of the most dominant teams in the Western Conference. At one point, the Thunder had Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka. The Thunder front office didn't want to give Harden or Ibaka the money they deserved, so they decided to trade them away to different teams. This should have put up a red flag for OKC fans. Thunder GM Sam Presti didn't seem interested in wanting to win a championship after letting Ibaka and Harden go, but he knew with Durant and Westbrook on the team they would still be relevant in playoff conversations.
We all know about Durant's departure from OKC this past offseason. The Thunder didn't have enough talent around Durant, even though they had a superstar in Westbrook. Many wonder if Durant still would have left if Ibaka, Harden, or both were still on the roster. The Thunder front office hasn't seemed to be 100 percent interested in winning, which might have been a factor in Durant's leaving for Golden State, a team that does everything it can to win a championship.
History has repeated itself three times for the Thunder -- will there be a fourth?
On the Same Page
Everyone knows Westbrook has one thing on his mind while playing in the NBA: winning championships. Westbrook would trade in his historic triple-double season for a championship if he could. Westbrook has the option to opt-out of his contract after next season, and this might worry some Thunder fans.
The Thunder have shown this past season that they need talent besides Westbrook, but will Sam Presti and owner Clay Bennett dish out the money needed to bring in some talent? Westbrook has made it known that OKC is where he wants to be, but he needs to sit down with the Thunder executives and decide if they are more committed to winning a championship, or just committed to having a successful business and having a relevant team people can talk about. Russell isn't worried about dollar signs, but he is worried about wins and rings and needs to make sure the Thunder front office will put out some money to bring in players in order to do so.
Russell Westbrook wants to be in OKC and wants to win, but are Clay Bennett and Sam Presti feeling the same> They have let many pieces go in their past, and I'm not sure if Thunder fans can take another heartbreak in losing another MVP-caliber player.
Westbrook wants to win, but if the Thunder don't put better pieces around him, will he try to find a championship elsewhere? This offseason for the Thunder executives is crucial and could determine the future of Russell Westbrook as well.
