At least one star is staying in Oklahoma City.
Having watched Kevin Durant flee for greener pastures, Russell Westbrook opted for a different route by working out an extension to keep him in OKC for the near future.
Here's three things to know about what Westbrook's extension means for him and the Thunder.
Westbrook unleashed
There will be no more inane drama about "whose team is it anyway?" - Westbrook is finally the undisputed No. 1 option.
The Thunder will go where their speeding point guard carries them, and if history is any indicator, Westbrook is primed for a historic campaign.
When Durant went down with a foot injury in 2015, Westbrook ripped off a wicked stretch where he averaged 31.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 9.9 assists over the final three months of the season.
Those are LeBron-esque, Magic-esque, and Oscar-esque numbers. If he stays healthy, Westbrook could come close to averaging a triple-double.
It helps that the Thunder lack quality ball-handlers. Westbrook will be the team's only dependable shot creator (Victor Oladipo can work as a combo guard), so he'll get to use all the possessions he could ever want.
Short-term solution
By inking Westbrook to his extension, the Thunder got the security they so badly craved. The viability of the OKC franchise could have been thrown into question had they lost all their stars at once.
But in effect, Westbrook really only signed on for one more season in exchange for a short-term raise since the third year of his deal is a player option. That means the Thunder will have to answer these same questions about Westbrook in a contract year next summer.
On the other hand, Westbrook seems happy to be in Oklahoma City, and if he thrives, as well as the team with him at the helm, what incentive would Westbrook have to leave?
Keep in mind that the Thunder can offer Westbrook more money than any other team - something that worked in their favor with this extension. If Westbrook were to re-sign after 2018, he could shatter records with a five-year, $204-million deal.
It's a short-term extension for now, but it could also work out for OKC in the long run.
Will OKC contend?
So long as Westbrook stays healthy, the Thunder will definitely make the playoffs. But hopes of contending for a championship are nothing more than a fantasy.
The Thunder went 27-28 without Durant in 2015. This year's roster is deeper, more talented, and it should be healthier, but expect OKC to slot in with around 50 wins.
A shortage of shooting and ball-handling will hurt the Thunder. Westbrook, Oladipo, and sophomore guard Cameron Payne are the only three players who can handle the rock. That's going to be a problem when teams choose to double and trap - especially since the Thunder don't have many shooters to punish teams for leaving them open.
That being said, the Thunder could still have a decent offense. A Turkish connection of Ersan Ilyasova and Enes Kanter is a solid inside-out combo that would feast off of open looks set up by Westbrook. But they'll struggle for secondary scoring, and that front line is leaky on defense.
Perhaps Steven Adams can make the leap and blossom into an All-Star. He's developed into a steady starting center, and he showed in last year's playoff run that he's decent in the pick-and-roll, and can defend reliably. If he can step up and be the beta to Westbrook's alpha, the Thunder's ceiling might be higher.
But as it currently stands, Durant's departure has left too many holes in the lineup for the Thunder.
