If Westbrook keeps playing the way he does, will he demand max money?

[warreng88]

I never thought that to be a possibility, but he is playing the most consistent basketball on the team and that includes KD. Will it take $85 million? If so, how will that affect the payout to the other players? Serge this year? Harden next year?

[Thunder]

He has more than enough money and he don't need more for a while. He knows this is a small market. Our team should be thankful for what they have and not to become greedy.

[Easy180]

He will certainly earn the max as freakin Rudy Gay got one recently

Figure the Thunder will pay to keep KD, Westbrook and Ibaka if humanly possible...Green and Harden are expendable even though I would hate to see Green go

[Watson410]

Westbrook has probably already reached the MAX contract stage... I just hope we have the finances to keep him here along with everyone else for that hefty price tag. Ibaka probably won't get paid MAX but will still be a huge price tag. Harden will NEVER be a MAX guy... That's not just because of the way he's playing this year but more because of his whole career (College and Pros).

[warreng88]

He has more than enough money and he don't need more for a while. He knows this is a small market. Our team should be thankful for what they have and not to become greedy.

It doesn't matter if he wants it, it matters if he warrants that kind of money. None of the players NEED it, but it shows how much we want them.

[Thunder]

It doesn't matter if he wants it, it matters if he warrants that kind of money. None of the players NEED it, but it shows how much we want them.

$85 million is WAY TOO MUCH to be making in Oklahoma. He can have a nice house built for $500k, way less than a million. Common bills is just a dip in his pocket. Since he has more than enough, he should focus on helping his family and friends. Donate to communities and charities. He can buy nice clothes for a few thousands a month for himself. Yeah, way too much money leftover.

Just curious, how much money does the team make from single-game ticket sales and such on average?

[warreng88]

$85 million is WAY TOO MUCH to be making in Oklahoma. He can have a nice house built for $500k, way less than a million. Common bills is just a dip in his pocket. Since he has more than enough, he should focus on helping his family and friends. Donate to communities and charities. He can buy nice clothes for a few thousands a month for himself. Yeah, way too much money leftover.

Wow. You really have no idea how this works do you?

[Thunder]

Wow. You really have no idea how this works do you?

Basically the amount he makes for the duration of his contract, unless you want to share what changes was made. I am just saying that these players are overpaid for simply engaging in fun sports. And to ask for more money is just downright insane. We do not want our team to go bankrupt with these outrageous payrolls. If one player demands for more, then the others will most likely follow suit and that will only result in possible losses for the team when some good players receive the pink slip in order to afford paying demanding players and bills.

[windowphobe]

Westbrook is paid, right now, based on the standard NBA rookie scale, which in turn is based on how high the player is drafted. Draft picks are signed for two years, with team options at years 3 and 4; there are raises built into the scale. This year (year 3) Westbrook gets $4,017,720; they've picked up his option for year 4, which bumps him up to $5,082,415.

According to the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, which expires after this season, they must offer Westbrook no less than $6,703,705 for the following year, or he becomes a restricted free agent. (The CBA may theoretically be renewed as is, though David Stern has made it clear that he doesn't want it.) These sums, vast as they seem, are contractual: they were bargained for in 2005. Were Westbrook, or anyone else, to be traded, he'd be paid just as much elsewhere. And all 450 (or so) players on the NBA roster know this perfectly well.

There is currently a salary cap, albeit with certain exceptions. (Stern would like to get rid of those exceptions if possible.) Thunder GM Sam Presti, who understands the arcane bits of the CBA as well as anyone on earth, knows what has to be done to keep Westbrook around.

[Thunder]

So, do we know if Westbrook, Durant, and the others are the kind of players to only play for the money. As in the money being top priority? Who on the team is most likely to become a restricted free agent? I don't like when players switch teams around base on just money itself. It is just...unnatural. A one team should be where they call it home...family...and stick to that to build traditions and history.

[ljbab728]

So, do we know if Westbrook, Durant, and the others are the kind of players to only play for the money. As in the money being top priority? Who on the team is most likely to become a restricted free agent? I don't like when players switch teams around base on just money itself. It is just...unnatural. A one team should be where they call it home...family...and stick to that to build traditions and history.

Thunder, that would be an ideal situation but that's not how any professional sport works. It's been that way forever. A few superstars might stay in one place but money talks and most listen. They aren't really concerned about what you like or don't like. It's that way in many businesses. We would have liked to still have Kerr McGee in OKC too but money took them elsewhere even though they were born here.

[TaoMaas]

So, do we know if Westbrook, Durant, and the others are the kind of players to only play for the money. As in the money being top priority?

I think we're in about as good a situation as we could hope for with the Thunder because all the players have been chosen in large part for their willingness to place the team ahead of individual goals. So I think that's going to give us some bargaining power in the near future. None of these guys are going to work for significantly less than they could make elsewhere, though. But, if the money is close and taking a bit less brings benefits with it...I think our guys are going to be more willing to make a deal than not. I could very easily see KD and Russ taking a little less if it means that the Thunder could then afford to keep Uncle Jeff or Serge, for example. There's no huge egos on this team and pretty much everyone is team-oriented. That's a good situation for the players...I think they like it that way...and I think that, all things being relatively equal, they want to keep it that way. We've already partly seen this with the extensions to KD and Collison. Sure, they both wanted to be paid fairly, but I think they also REALLY wanted to be able to keep doin' what they've been doin' and see how far this thing can go. Not all teams are the happy family that the Thunder appear to be.

[Lord Helmet]

$85 million is WAY TOO MUCH to be making in Oklahoma. He can have a nice house built for $500k, way less than a million. Common bills is just a dip in his pocket. Since he has more than enough, he should focus on helping his family and friends. Donate to communities and charities. He can buy nice clothes for a few thousands a month for himself. Yeah, way too much money leftover.

Just curious, how much money does the team make from single-game ticket sales and such on average?

Wow. You've proven time and time again to be an idiot. Good grief.

[Bill Robertson]

Thunder, you really are naive. You live in an ideal world that I sort of wish we could all live in. But unfortunately it's not the real world.

[Kerry]

So, do we know if Westbrook, Durant, and the others are the kind of players to only play for the money. As in the money being top priority? Who on the team is most likely to become a restricted free agent? I don't like when players switch teams around base on just money itself. It is just...unnatural. A one team should be where they call it home...family...and stick to that to build traditions and history.

I'll tell you what Thunder - when you get your first job stay in it for the rest of your life. Be happy with the 3% annual increase you will get most years. Under no circumstance attempt to get a promotion or leave for a higer paying job. When you are 65 years old and ready to retire and can't figure out why you can't afford to retire then we can talk.

[windowphobe]

Jeff Green will be a restricted free agent at the end of this season. A minimum qualifying offer would be $5,908,641. Of course, with any RFA, should anyone else make an offer, the current team can match it and keep the player.

Daequan Cook is in a similar situation, though given the fact that he's currently glued to the bench, I suspect they'll put up no particular effort to keep him.

[Easy180]

Daequan Cook is in a similar situation, though given the fact that he's currently glued to the bench, I suspect they'll put up no particular effort to keep him.

Probably trade him straight up for a case of Shiner Bock right now

[warreng88]

Here is the team's current roster:

Team Roster
NO. NAME POS AGE HT WT COLLEGE 2010-2011 SALARY
45 Cole Aldrich C 22 6-11 245 Kansas $2,126,520
4 Nick Collison PF 30 6-10 255 Kansas $13,270,000
14 Daequan Cook SG 23 6-5 210 Ohio State $2,169,857
35 Kevin Durant SF 22 6-9 230 Texas $6,053,663
22 Jeff Green F 24 6-9 235 Georgetown $4,455,988
13 James Harden G 21 6-5 220 Arizona State $4,304,520
9 Serge Ibaka PF 21 6-10 235 $1,204,200
7 Royal Ivey PG 29 6-4 215 Texas $1,200,000
12 Nenad Krstic C 27 7-0 240 $5,543,116
6 Eric Maynor PG 23 6-3 175 Virginia Commonwealth $1,417,800
23 Byron Mullens C 21 7-0 275 Ohio State $1,204,200
42 Morris Peterson SG 33 6-7 220 Michigan State $6,665,000
2 Thabo Sefolosha SG 26 6-7 215 $3,250,000
0 Russell Westbrook PG 22 6-3 187 UCLA $4,017,720
3 D.J. White PF 24 6-9 251 Indiana $1,108,680

I would guess Cook, Ivey and Peterson are gone after this year. That would free up about $10 million. With RW increasing by a million, Nick getting a contract extension that will pay him about $2.75 a year (remember his screwy contract where he got a $6.5 million signing bonus and agrees to $11 million over four years?) instead of $6.5, that will come out to about $12.75 not to mention whatever they decide to do with Krstic. The current payroll is $58 million, just under the salary cap. Taking out those other three players, the change in Collison, Westbrook and KD's contracts will probably put us about $10 million under the cap. That would leave more than enough room to resign Serge, RW and Green.

[geterdone]

How do the Laker's and other teams get away with having a salary of 80 to 90 million?

[warreng88]

You can pay however much you want, but anything above the salary cap is subject to luxury tax.

[windowphobe]

Actually, the luxury tax is computed by a rather complicated formula, and kicks in well above the salary cap: for this season, it's $70,307,000.

Any dollar a team pays in salary above that amount requires that the team pay $1 to the league in luxury tax. Last season, 11 teams got hit with it.

Teams under the tax level get some of that tax money. Call it a primitive form of revenue sharing.

[Dustin]

How do the Laker's and other teams get away with having a salary of 80 to 90 million?

Im sure if the Thunder had Kobe they would pay him that much.

[Easy180]

Westbrook is just a little off his game right now...not playing horribly but he has gotten back into his bad habit of trying to force his way to the bucket even when nothing is there