Thunder Star Russell Westbrook Says OKC ‘Is A Place That I Want To Be’

The 2016-17 NBA season is officially over for the Oklahoma City Thunder. After a historic regular season for Russell Westbrook in which he averaged a triple-double for an entire season and broke Oscar Robertson’s record, the superstar was unable to get the best of his former teammate James Harden and the Houston Rockets falling in five games in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

With Westbrook putting his imprint on his season and proving he truly is a superstar without Kevin Durant by his side, the question remains whether his future is in Oklahoma City or elsewhere. Although Westbrook won’t be able to hit free agency until next summer, the perennial All-Star is eligible to sign an extension for $220 million this summer and all signs point to him staying in Oklahoma City long-term, via ESPN’s Royce Young:

“That’s something, like I said, I haven’t thought about anything, obviously,” Westbrook said. “Everybody knows that I like Oklahoma City and I love being here and I love everybody here. But I haven’t even thought about that. Obviously, Oklahoma City is a place that I want to be.”

Westbrook was more or less a one-man show during the 2016-17 campaign. That was never more evident than during the playoff series with the Rockets as he simply was doing everything on the court with virtually no help to compete against arguably one of the top-tier teams in the NBA.

As a result of Westbrook finding it hard to get help and getting gassed late in games, the Thunder will likely be aggressive this summer trying to get him help in every way possible. A run at free-agent-to-be and Oklahoma native, Blake Griffin, might be the direction the team takes as they try to build a contender.