It was previously reported that the Oklahoma City Thunder planned to target Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin. Now that they have officially extended Russell Westbrook’s contract, that remains the plan, reports Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
Durant is deleted. Done and gone and no longer part of his world. “What’s next?” he asked – and the Thunder connected with Westbrook on a plan to construct their next act. Once, it was James Harden and Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Now, it’s a superstar solo act – with an eye upon Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin in 2017 free agency. Griffin is an Oklahoma kid gone Hollywood, a star who has his own tensions with Chris Paul on the Clippers.
As Wojnarowski said, Griffin is, indeed, an Oklahoma kid. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Griffin attended Oklahoma Christian high school, and played college ball at the University of Oklahoma for two seasons before being drafted first overall by the Clippers.
Westbrook will need a co-star if the Thunder hope to return to contention status. While Westbrook and Griffin would be perhaps the most high-flying, athletic duo in basketball history, I’m not sure it would be quite enough to win them a title. Griffin is one of the best players in the league, but he’s no Durant. They’d likely need another piece, unless they see massive improvement from somebody like Steven Adams, Victor Oladipo, or Domantas Sabonis (which can’t be ruled out).
