Should the Oklahoma City Thunder Trade Russell Westbrook?

Kevin Durant's decision to leave Oklahoma City and join the Golden State Warriors is a veritable NBA earthquake. It irreparably changed the landscape of the league, as the Warriors are now considered to be more than an odds-on favorite to win the 2016-17 NBA title.

Aside from a potentially legendary team in the Bay, this decision leaves aftershocks around the league in its wake. And while decisions surrounding where Harrison Barnes will end up (probably Dallas), where Golden State trades Andrew Bogut (almost definitely Dallas), and where Festus Ezeli plays next season are all important, one upcoming decision stands out above the rest as being able to shift the balance of the league.

By just about every metric, statistical and aesthetic, Russell Westbrook is a top 10 NBA player. He's a whirling dervish of athleticism, a hurricane of human force that is impossible to keep from making plays. His decision-making still isn't perfect and likely never will be, but that doesn't matter. Any team with Westbrook is essentially at least a 45-win team, as he showed in 2015 when Durant was injured. He's coming off a season where he came ever-so-close to averaging a triple-double (23.5 points, 10.4 assists, and 7.8 rebounds per game. Those otherworldly numbers will likely only get better in Oklahoma City without Durant. Westbrook's already sky-high usage rate will likely increase back to its insane 38.4 percent level of 2014-15. If he stays with the Thunder, he has to be considered an early threat to win the MVP award in 2017.

Still, the question of the hour isn't about Westbrook's production and talent. Rather, it's about whether Oklahoma City will go into next season with him on the roster. Westbrook has one year and $17.8 million left on his contract. Like with Durant, there are divergent factors at play as to whether or not he will re-sign with the Thunder. On one hand, the keys are squarely in Westbrook's hands now. He'll be able to wholly force his unique imprint on the game in whatever manner he desires, something that clearly matters to him. However, Westbrook is certainly known to have interests off of the basketball floor, and it's possible that he may look to better those possibilities by going to a larger market. It's anyone's guess as to what he'll do, and as we've learned in just the past three days, these decisions are basically impossible to predict.

The Thunder have three options at their disposal. The first is to offer Westbrook a contract extension and hope he accepts. This would involve them renegotiating his current contract to the maximum allowable under the current collective bargaining agreement, a starting salary of $26,540,100 for this season, then extending his contract at the maximum allowable 7.5 percent raises for three additional years. The total would be approximately four years, $118 million from 2016-17 through 2019-20. A deal like this would give Westbrook a lot of security in the case of both injury and a possible labor stoppage after this season that could change the financial landscape for players. (In December, both the owners and the players have the option of opting out of the 10-year collective bargaining agreement that was signed in November 2011.)

Regardless of how the cap shakes out next year, the financial implications for Westbrook to sign an extension now wouldn't be extraordinarily different both over the short and long-term as long as he was able to continue his high level of play and earn a max deal in 2020, and as long as the maximum salary levels for players did not rise in the next collective bargaining agreement:

(All of the above estimates are based on the next CBA being similar to the current one.)

As you can see, the money is not vastly different both in the short and long term if he signs a long-term deal with Oklahoma City this summer versus exploring his other options. There is risk inherent in every decision. If he re-negotiates and extends, he would be betting on his skills staying at a max level into his early 30s, maximizing his long-term value. If he plays out the season, he'd be risking the possibility of a new collective bargaining agreement going against him. If he signs a 1-plus-1 deal, he's risking getting injured. The money is close enough that the Thunder should be able to get a very real read on his decision making process this summer if they offer to re-negotiate his deal and extend it.

If Westbrook turns that down, the Thunder have two choices. They could decide to play out this season, attempt to contend, and see if Westbrook re-signs. The team has a number of young assets, and could try to surround Westbrook with talent going into the last year of his deal. Maybe the Cavaliers would listen on a deal for Kevin Love, Westbrook's old teammate at UCLA. Phoenix could be listening to offers on Eric Bledsoe, and the two could combine to form the most athletic backcourt in the NBA. Chicago seems to be taking offers on Jimmy Butler. It's possible Paul Millsap may feel unloved by the Hawks after the team attempted to pair Al Horford with Dwight Howard at his expense. There are realistic trade options out there. But unless they could pair Westbrook with two of these players, it's difficult to envision the Thunder contending for a title next season.

That leaves a third option: Would the Thunder trade Westbrook? It's an obviously devastating scenario for fans, the complete end of the Durant-Westbrook era. But the alternative is arguably worse. Losing both players without getting anything in return is the kind of thing that could the team back a decade. If Westbrook decides to play out the season without signing an extension, the Thunder should explore a trade. There would be plenty of teams waiting in line to call Sam Presti to take a shot at Westbrook.

The Lakers are a natural landing spot for Westbrook. He went to Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, which is about a half-hour drive from the Staples Center. That, along with the city's big market and high-end fashion scene, could make for an attractive landing spot for Westbrook. While the Lakers would undoubtedly want to wait until next year to go after him in free agency, it might make more sense for the team to acquire him now even if it would cost quite a bit. With the Lakers unable to offer a first round pick until 2021, they'd likely have to surrender rookie Brandon Ingram. Still, between Ingram, D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson, there are quite a few pieces the team can offer in a Westbrook deal. Also lurking in the background of something like this: a self-imposed deadline from the Buss family to be in contention by either the 2017 or 2018 season. We all know that job security can lead people to forsake the long-term at the expense of the short-term. If the team is willing to surrender the right package of players, and Westbrook is willing to agree to renegotiate and extend, this might be the most amenable deal for all parties.

While these two teams offer an attractive market, it's hard to foresee either team having enough assets to get a deal done. The Nets are without either of their picks in the next two years due to pick swaps/trades with the Celtics, and the Knicks currently have no one outside of Kristaps Porzingis younger than 26 on their roster. Either team will likely have to wait until free agency to bid for Westbrook.

Due to just the sheer number of young assets the team has, the Celtics have to be considered contenders to trade for any star. And now with Al Horford, the team could begin to pile up stars quickly if things break right. The team could easily offer the Thunder a deal involving Isaiah Thomas, one of Jae Crowder or Jaylen Brown, a couple other young players (James Young, Terry Rozier, Jordan Mickey, R.J. Hunter), or their cavalcade of picks this season, and one of the Brooklyn Nets' upcoming first rounders if they can get Westbrook to re-negotiate and extend. Even if not, there is enough talent available to make the Thunder consider a deal.

The problem is that most of the 76ers' assets are frontcourt players, and the Thunder already have money tied up in Enes Kanter, Steven Adams and Domantas Sabonis. I'm not sold on this being the most viable option for Westbrook despite the 76ers' obvious need at point guard. Well, not unless the team puts Ben Simmons on the table, something I doubt they would do.

The Nuggets have been sneakily in the mix for stars over the last year. There was the report at the trade deadline about them discussing Blake Griffin with the Los Angeles Clippers. Recently, the team got into the Paul Millsap sweepstakes before the Horford decision. If the Thunder wanted pieces that would allow them contend while rebuilding, the Nuggets could offer players like Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, and Danilo Gallinari. Beyond that, the Nuggets could offer Emmanuel Mudiay to replace Westbrook at point guard. They also have young players like Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Jusuf Nurkic, Juan Hernangomez, Gary Harris and Malik Beasley. While Westbrook might be reluctant to immediately sign an extension, the Nuggets' young talent makes them a team to watch if the Thunder start offering up their star point guard.

Dallas will be in the market for every superstar that comes available. The problem is that they just don't have the assets to put together a tangible offer for Westbrook. The best they could do is something like Wes Matthews, Justin Anderson and a couple of firsts, and there are better offers out there. Like the New York teams, if the Mavericks are to somehow end up with Westbrook, it'll be via free agency.

In the final analysis, the best option for the Thunder is to keep Westbrook if he's willing to sign an extension after re-negotiating. He's the kind of player teams build around. But if Westbrook declines to sign an extension, the Thunder have to explore their options and strongly consider moving on from the era that brought basketball to Oklahoma City. It will be difficult to swallow, but given that it seems unlikely the team will compete for a title this season, taking a step back in order to move forward would probably be the most prudent course of action in regard to rebuilding a future contender.