The Oklahoma City Thunder front office has scored a huge victory for their team by successfully locking up Russell Westbrook to an extension.
The official confirmation was provided by Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical at Yahoo Sports.
"Oklahoma City Thunder star guard Russell Westbrook has agreed to a three-year, $85 million-plus maximum contract renegotiation, league sources told The Vertical. "Westbrook, a five-time All-Star, and his agent, Thad Foucher of Wasserman Media Group, are planning to fly to Oklahoma City on Thursday morning, sign the deal and likely hold a news conference with Thunder ownership and executives, league sources told The Vertical."
There are many implications of this deal and for the Thunder, specifically GM Sam Presti, all of them are positive. Practically the future of the franchise rests on Westbrook signing this extension. If he didn't, the franchise would be severely disadvantaged.
In the immediate future, the Thunder will still be a playoff team in the Western Conference. They will not have Westbrook's impending free agency loom over them the entire season (the way Durant's free agency was like a dark cloud of doom that gave more pressure to the Thunder last season).
Does this mean that Westbrook will now stay with the Thunder and that trade rumors linking him to each and every team will cease? Not necessarily, as CSN Philly illustrated.
"The latter question still isn't fully answered - if things go poorly for Oklahoma City during the upcoming season, the length of Westbrook's new contract would seem to make him a more valuable trade piece - but for now, both he and Thunder seem to be going all-in."
Westbrook alone would not necessarily assure that the Thunder will do well. They have a gaping, Kevin Durant-sized hole at the small forward spot that they need to address. However, nothing is certain for now, just that Westbrook is committed to the Thunder and they won't lose him for nothing in free agency.
Which is why his signing was a great service to the team. Even if he plans to leave, Presti has leverage because Westbrook is signed. There were rumors that the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks were in trade talks with the Thunder but they wanted to make sure that Westbrook had an extension before they give up real assets.