It is not often in professional sports that you see a team with two of the top five players in the league, then lose them both in a matter of months. The Oklahoma City Thunder could be headed in that direction.
Kevin Durant left OKC to join a super-team with the Golden State Warriors and Russell Westbrook appears to be on the way out soon, as well.
According to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, there is a strong sense among opposing general managers that not only will Russell Westbrook not re-sign with the Thunder, but he will actually be traded sooner rather than later.
Several teams will be interested but it may be difficult to send a large number of assets to the Thunder without knowing that Westbrook will re-sign with them the following summer. Some potential trade partners for Westbrook's talents will likely be the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and the Los Angeles Lakers.
In fact, Beck's sources believe the Celtics are the most-likely trade partner for Westbrook.
Westbrook is from the Los Angeles area and would fit in well in a big market, given his interests and personality. But, it is hard to believe the Lakers could outbid a team like the Celtics given the large number of assets Boston has accumulated over the last few years.
In just a matter of weeks, the Thunder have gone from a perennial title contender to a team attempting to scrape together as much as it can from what it has. If the Thunder do elect to trade Westbrook, they still have some young, talented pieces in Victor Oladipo, Stephen Adams, and Enes Kanter.
Oklahoma City will certainly be in a re-tooling, if not re-building, stage for the next few years.
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