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Despite a historic season and his first potential Most Valuable Player award in tonight's NBA Player Awards show, Russell Westbrook can find himself in a sticky situation with the Oklahoma City Thunder quite soon if the offseason doesn't go according to the team's plans.
Westbrook will be offered a contract extension the minute free agency opens up on July 1, but if he chooses not to sign it, the team could rapidly go into panic mode and attempt to dangle him in trade talks, as they cannot risk losing another franchise player in free agency in a span of two years, according to ESPN's Royce Young.
The 6-foot-3 point guard signed a three-year deal with a player option for after the second season, which means he could opt to become a free agent in 2018-19 and put the team in jeopardy of losing its talisman. Westbrook will make $28.5 million for the 2017-18 season and can add-on another five years, starting in 2018-19 for a total of $207 million.
If he chooses not to sign and let the season play out, the Thunder will be in dire straits and have to choose between letting him have the season to think about it or put him on the trade block to avoid having a situation similar to Kevin Durant‘s last offseason.
OKC's number one priority will be to sign the Long Beach native to a deal, but they will also have to have some plans to go along with it if they're to convince the star that it's a worthwhile gamble after being eliminated in five games by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2017 playoffs.
