Russell Westbrook Reportedly "Angry and Hurt" that Kevin Durant Didn't Call Him

Though it already feels like forever ago, it’s barely been three weeks since Kevin Durant announced he was leaving OKC for Golden State. It would be an understatement to say that this decision has had seismic effects on the Thunder organization, which must soon choose whether to trade Russell Westbrook and rebuild from the ground, or roll the dice and risk his leaving for nothing in return next summer.

Westbrook, for his part, sounds like he is still in the initial post breakup phase with Durant. Via ESPN’s Royce Young:

"Those close to Westbrook say he’s both angry and hurt not only by Durant’s decision to leave but also because Durant didn’t even call to tell him personally. Westbrook wasn’t prepared to be in this position — three weeks ago, like everyone else, he thought Durant was coming back. And he had to learn the hard way he wasn’t."

This is a totally understandable reaction on Westbrook’s part. Put yourself in his shoes. Even if he and Durant weren’t best buds off the court – and come to think about it, it’s kind of weird we never heard anything about their relationship away from basketball? – they were tandem stars for long enough that you’d expect not to be blindsided by a 2×4.

According to Young, Durant was looking to buy a mansion in the OKC suburbs soon before he announced he was leaving. While the Golden State possibility was lingering in everyone’s mind since Woj reported it in February, it felt like the overwhelming probability was that Durant would stay in OKC at least for the short term. If you saw this coming, you could’ve made a lot of money. On June 29th, Bovada had the Thunder as 1/6 favorites – you’d have to bet $6 to win $1 – to keep Durant, while Golden State paid out at 4/1.

Durant’s decision puts immediate pressure on Westbrook to figure out his own future. Per Young, Westbrook doesn’t want to be traded now, but the Thunder want an answer from him soon about whether he intends to re-sign with them. Initially this seems unreasonable on their part because the cap, and therefore the max contract, is going up again next year. However, if they extended Westbrook right now they could pay him an extra $9 million this season, which could help reconcile the big money difference in a contract a year from now.

Maybe there is a happy medium, where Westbrook signs an extension now, gets the raise, but has a player option in 2018? He’d make more money the next two years than would otherwise have been possible, the Thunder would get this year with Westbrook as the lone alpha and could revisit whether a full rebuild would be more palatable a year from now. With the option, Westbrook wouldn’t get stuck playing in Utah or something for several years if he were traded.

Nevertheless, a trade remains a very viable possibility. If he doesn’t give OKC an answer soon, they would be negligent not to explore their options.