Skip to content

Thunder GM stays mum on Westbrook extension, Durant tweets

Layne Murdoch / National Basketball Association / Getty

Sitting in a drawer somewhere in Oklahoma is a five-year contract extension for Russell Westbrook. If it were up to the Thunder, he would have signed it by now.

Both sides have until Oct. 16 to consummate the deal, or Westbrook will hit unrestricted free agency next summer should he opt out of his current contract. Despite that potentially ominous alternative, Thunder GM Sam Presti is staying calm.

"We're gonna let that play itself out," Presti told reporters Friday, per ESPN's Royce Young. "We have until the 16th. Obviously, we hope that takes place, but until the 16th passes I'm not going to put a label or adjective on it."

Letting Westbrook walk into unrestricted free agency - alongside Paul George, who will likely hit the open market - is an untenable development for Oklahoma City. Seeing George leave would hurt, but losing Westbrook for nothing could be a crippling blow to a franchise that lost Kevin Durant in the same manner just over a year ago.

On the topic of Durant, Presti was asked about the Warriors star's recent social media adventures, which featured an odd third-person attack on Thunder coach Billy Donovan - something Durant apologized for.

Presti held firm again.

"I and no one from the Thunder has anything negative to say about Kevin Durant," he said. "I think we've been, hopefully, very open about the fact that we have tremendous appreciation and respect for what he and his teammates and coaches and everybody here accomplished."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox