Should he stay or should he go?
Last week, during Team USA Men’s Basketball practices, Kevin Durant revealed to media that he still hasn’t spoken with Russell Westbrook – following his decision to sign with the Golden State Warriors. While Durant said he was very close to signing with the Boston Celtics on the strength of Tom Brady alone, Oklahoma City was out of his plans for the immediate future.
Now, reports have surfaced through ESPN writer, Royce Young, that Russ was not happy, nor pleased with how the way Kevin left the Thunder last month – including not even receiving a heads up about the situation. This move puts the prime career years of Westbrook in limbo, as he’ll have to decide whether or not he wants to leave OKC after the 2017 season.
With the Thunder doing nothing to their roster (besides trading for Victor Oladipo & Domantas Sabonis), as well as losing both Serge Ibaka and Dion Waiters, Russell reportedly hasn’t asked for a trade and OKC management has told buyers that he’s not available.
Durant’s defection forcing Westbrook to decide OKC future now
Those close to Westbrook say he’s both angry and hurt not only by Durant’s decision to leave but also because Durant didn’t even call to tell him personally. Westbrook wasn’t prepared to be in this position — three weeks ago, like everyone else, he thought Durant was coming back. And he had to learn the hard way he wasn’t.
Westbrook has remained mum, but he and the Thunder have been in communication often since Durant’s departure. […] And with Durant now gone, Westbrook understands the gravity of his own choice — he leaves, and the organization burns to the ground in a summer. So he wants to give them clarity to either move on with or without him.
UPDATE: Young elaborates on the news he broke earlier this week, to the ESPN Truehoop podcast.
Three weeks ago, Kevin Durant’s sitting there at dinner, telling him “Hey, I’m coming back, man. Don’t worry about it.” And now, Russell Westbrook has been kind of thrown into this in having to decide his future a summer earlier than expected.
Kevin Durant, more so than even that, was telling people, “Hey, yeah, I mean I’m coming back.” Like I said in there, a week before Kevin Durant sat down in the Hamptons, he was in Oklahoma City ready to make an offer on a multi-million-dollar house. So, the guy was pretty serious about coming back, and then things turned rather quickly for him to leave. And there’s no doubt that the organization felt a little bit burned by this.
Durant on Whether or Not He Left Thunder Because of Westbrook