The Oklahoma City Thunder officially signed Russell Westbrook to a three-year, $85.7 million contract extension on Thursday, but, wouldn’t you know it, the extension was reportedly agreed upon weeks ago.
According to ESPN’s Royce Young, the Thunder rescinded guard Dion Waiters’ qualifying offer on July 18 to create enough cap space to extend Westbrook. That’s when they knew Westbrook was coming back.
The suddenness of Westbrook’s renegotiated deal happening was jarring, going from dead silence for the last month to news breaking late on Wednesday it was close, and then done. But in reality, Westbrook and the Thunder have been in agreement on an extension for more than two weeks. The signal was Dion Waiters’ qualifying offer being rescinded, a move done with only the goal of freeing necessary cap space to extend Westbrook. The moment the Thunder pulled that offer, they knew they had a commitment from Westbrook.
With Kevin Durant leaving for Golden State, the Thunder made locking up Westbrook their primary objective this offseason and they succeeded. Now the team can focus on building around Westbrook for the next couple of years. Rumor has it the Thunder want to pair Westbrook with Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin.
