Durant has lead the Thunder to the best record in the league at 17-4 while averaging 26.6 points (third in the NBA) on 51 percent shooting from the field, a team-high 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 37.1 minutes. Through the first six weeks of the season, Durant has recorded eight double-doubles.
Starting with Durant for the West will be Chris Paul, Kobe, Blake Griffin and Andrew Bynum. For the East it’s Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard.
Russell Westbrook was the only other Thunder player even close to the conversation as a starter, but finished fifth among point guards.
Thabo Sefolosha will miss his third game this season and second consecutive one sitting out tonight against the Mavericks with a sore foot.
And in his place? Well, we don’t really know that yet, because Scott Brooks is still thinking about it. Via the Oklahoman:
Although Brooks did not say that Harden struggles stemmed solely from being in the starting lineup, the coach did admit that he has concerns about tampering with Harden’s role as it possibly could continue to throw off the team’s chemistry. Brooks said it’s a situation that the coaching staff is “looking at very closely.”
“Definitely, we’ve talked about it,” Brooks said. “We’re trying to work through it. I don’t know what we’ll do tonight. But there’s definitely concern because that second unit’s been really good. It’s been changed a few times even with Eric (Maynor) being out.”
The option is to start Daequan Cook and leave Harden in his normal role off the bench. That keeps Harden in a place he’s become comfortable, anchoring that second unit.
This type of thinking is really coming from the fact OKC is 0-2 with Thabo and that Harden scored just seven points on 2-10 shooting against the Clippers. He barely touched the ball in the first quarter playing alongside Durant and Westbrook and clearly looked to be having trouble finding his place in the offense. Read more…
There has been a bit of confusion about Russell Westbrook’s new extension and whether or not he left money on the table. The confusion stemmed from the new Rose Rule that allows players a 30 percent maximum extension instead of 25 percent by meeting certain criteria including winning an MVP, being voted an All-Star starter twice or making two All-NBA teams.
But I’m told by a source with direct knowledge that Westbrook’s contract would’ve indeed been eligible for the Rose Rule bump if he made another All-NBA team this season, but instead settled for the standard max deal. So all the stuff about Westbrook taking the 25 percent max instead of the 30 percent is correct. In a way, as I wrote yesterday, Westbrook potentially left money on the table. Which could be extremely important to the future of the roster.
The source clarified that Kevin Durant’s retroactive Rose deal had no impact on Westbrook’s Rose eligibility, despite conflicting reports on that subject. Because of the Rose max, Durant will make roughly $3 million more per season and about $15 million more over the life of his five-year contract.
A five-year designated player max contract and the Rose extension are not synonymous things. They are separate. Westbrook was able to get a five-year deal because each team can extend a player for five years under the CBA. And since Durant was extended in the last CBA, Westbrook was eligible to be extended for five years in the new CBA, if that makes sense.
Russell Westbrook has signed a multi-year extension, the Thunder announced Thursday. It’s a five-year extension worth $80 million via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The deal was finalized Wednesday night.
“We are thrilled to solidify Russell’s future with the Thunder,” said Sam Presti. “Since we arrived in Oklahoma City, Russell’s work ethic, persistence, character, and involvement in our community have helped us establish the standards that we are committed to on a day-to-day basis. He is a valued member of our organization and we look forward to his continued contributions on and off the floor.”
A news conference will be held when the Thunder return from their road trip Sunday.
“We are very excited that Russell will continue to be a part of the Thunder organization,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Clay Bennett. “He has demonstrated high personal character, a strong commitment to his teammates and a remarkable dedication to the development of his performance as a player. We especially value his role in the community as he has consistently represented “Oklahoma City Basketball” with pride and integrity.” Read more…
Eight days. Eight days until the deadline passes for Russell Westbrook’s extension and he becomes a restricted free agent on July 1.
Eight days for the Thunder and Westbrook to come to an agreement before things get a bit trickier. Westbrook becoming a restricted free agent isn’t a black spot on his future in Oklahoma City, but it isn’t ideal. It opens up the possibility that someone offers him more than the Thunder are willing to match. It opens up the option of market competition, which can sometimes be good because the market could determine a lower number, but it could often do the opposite.
Real original, Warner. Via Thunder Rumblings, KD’s movie that was previously titled “Switch” is now called “Thunderstruck.”
As Darnell Mayberry notes, Durant will be filming scenes during the Thunder’s Jan. 23 (or Jan. 25 against the Hornets) home game against the Pistons. Originally, scenes were to be filmed during one of the Thunder’s preseason games, but that didn’t happen because of the lockout.
Eric Maynor will miss the rest of the 2011-12 season with a torn right ACL, the team announced Sunday afternoon.
“It is unfortunate to lose a player like Eric, whose work ethic and leadership has contributed to the culture of our organization,” Sam Presti said in a release. “Knowing him and the mental toughness he possesses, we are confident that he will do everything necessary to come back from this injury and be prepared for the 2012-13 season. Injuries are part of the NBA, and although it is tough to lose Eric, we must move forward and focus on our continued improvement as a basketball team.”
This is really the first major injury the Thunder have had to deal with. There have been some rolled ankles and sprained knees, but nothing this serious to this important of a player. It will be a big test for the Thunder’s depth, but also on their mental toughness. Losing a player that’s so close to everyone like Maynor isn’t easy. Read more…
Early in the fourth quarter, Eric Maynor went down with what looked to be a pretty serious right knee injury. He was driving hard to the basket and jump-stopped when his knee buckled. Video of the injury is above, and it’s not pretty.
Maynor was in a pretty obvious amount of pain and had to be carried off the floor by his teammates. As of now, there isn’t any official information about his injury, but it looked bad. He will be evaluated Sunday in Oklahoma City and the team’s medical staff will run all necessary tests on it and then announce the injury and timetable. Updates coming whenever available.
Hold on to your butts. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook got mad at each other Wednesday.
Westbrook labored through maybe the worst game of his career Wednesday night in Memphis going 0-13 from the floor for just four points. But maybe there was a reason for it.
We knew this was coming, but now it’s official: The Thunder have reached a buyout agreement with Nate Robinson. The roster now stands at 15.
This was necessary for one, to get down to the required 15-man roster but also because there was absolutely no reason at all to keep Robinson on the roster. Now the Thunder can keep Ryan Reid as part of the team instead of being forced to waive him, in which they’d lose their rights to him.
(Since Reid was drafted by OKC 57th overall in 2010, Oklahoma City owns his rights but with the Thunder bringing him to camp, they’d forfeit those rights if they waived him. More than likely, the Byron Mullens trade was to open room to keep Reid more than anything else as OKC needed that extra roster spot in order to keep him, and Royal Ivey who has a non-guaranteed contract.)
Robinson is now a free agent able to sign anywhere, which is what he wanted. He was never going to see playing time with the Thunder and Oklahoma City didn’t want to just pay him to do flying motions and to scream on the bench. I’m sure Presti tried to unload him in a trade for a future pick, but there probably weren’t too many takers.
The Thunder announced Monday that center Byron Mullens along with cash considerations have been dealt to Charlotte for a future 2013 second-round pick.
“While we believe that Byron will be a productive player in this league, it became apparent that in the near future it would be difficult for him to continue his development and have the opportunity to make a significant impact on our club because of the current make-up of our roster,” Sam Presti said in a release. “This trade allows us the opportunity to create both future financial and roster flexibility while providing us with an additional draft pick in 2013.”
Mullens appeared in just 26 games during two seasons with the Thunder and averaged 1.5 and 1.3 rebounds. He really spent most of his time traveling between Tulsa and Oklahoma City as he was sent down to the D-League quite a bit.
Mullens was acquired on draft night for the rights to Roddy Beaubois. As you can see, the Mullens experiment is one of the very few blemishes on Sam Presti’s otherwise stellar resume. Read more…
We all saw the need for a backup small forward for Kevin Durant. Sam Presti did too.
The Thunder acquired Lazar Hayward late Tuesday from the Wolves for Robert Vaden and two conditional second round picks. Hayward, a 6-6 swingman, is 25 years old and was taken 30th overall in 2010. Last season with Minnesota, he averaged 3.8 points and 1.6 rebounds in 42 games.
“We are excited to be able to add Lazar to our organization,” Sam Presti said in a release. “Lazar is someone who we followed closely through the draft process and identified as a potential fit for the culture and identity that we are continuing to build in Oklahoma City. His toughness, length and shooting are attributes that will add depth to our roster, while his professionalism and competitiveness embody the intangibles that we value as an organization.” Read more…
Kendrick Perkins finally joined Twitter and so far, it’s outstanding. From his Twitter name — @perk5yunghawg — to his profile picture to his tweets, I can tell you that Perk is definitely a must-follow.
Perk followed up with, “my wife said me but i know she dont want to hurt my feelings.”
He also tweeted KD, “Oh that tickled ya fanny” after KD gave a hearty chuckle to his Forest Whitaker thing.
Via Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, the Thunder have re-signed Daequan Cook to a two-year, $6.5 million deal. (Originally, reports on Cook’s contract had it at $7.5 million.)
Cook, a restricted free agent, never really showed interest in signing anywhere else other than Oklahoma City. But it was whether or not the Thunder would make enough of a financial commitment to him in order to keep him. His qualifying offer was for $3.1 million for next season and OKC got him for $3.25 million a year.
My snap take? Feels like too much, but it really isn’t. For a specialist like Cook, someone that plays 8-12 minutes a game to take three or four shots, that much money is a pretty heavy price. Especially with second year, which kind of surprises me. But it’s just something you kind of have to pay if you want the luxury of a shooter.
The $3.25 million a year eats up most of Oklahoma City’s remaining cap space and while it won’t have any kind of longstanding impact on roster decisions (i.e. Ibaka, Harden or Maynor), it does mean the Thunder will now definitely be standing firm throughout this free agency. Not that we didn’t know that already.
Compare Cook’s $3.25 million a year to other so-called 3-point specialists though: Read more…
“In collaboration with Nate Robinson and his representatives, we have mutually agreed to continue working toward clarifying his future status with the Thunder. Nate is an accomplished player, but with the current composition of our roster, it will be unlikely he will have an opportunity to contribute on a nightly basis.
Given the compressed period of time that we have been given to work through the current situation, it has been decided that Nate will not attend training camp while we work with his representatives to resolve the situation. We will not be commenting on this subject further but will provide notification when a resolution is reached.”
