Big issue 1: It’s been three seasons since the Thunder blew a 3-1 lead in the conference finals and Kevin Durant decided to bolt town. Since then, the organization has gone through convulsions of personnel activity, giving an enormous contract extension to Russell Westbrook, trading for Paul George, bringing in and letting go of Carmelo Anthony, trading for Dennis Schroder and landing on a roster that is being paid $140 million and getting hammered by the luxury tax.
The payoff? Three straight first-round losses, the latest coming against a Portland team that was playing without its third-best player, Jusuf Nurkic.
That’s sent the folks in Thunderdom into an existential crisis, where everything needs to be questioned. Tops on the list is what on earth can be done about Russell Westbrook, who followed another triple-double-filled regular season with his third straight playoff flop. Westbrook has not topped 40 percent shooting in any of his last three postseasons, but this year was especially bad: He shot 36.0 percent from the field and was terrible finishing at the rim (45.9 percent).
But it would be a major leap for the Thunder to begin investigating trade options for Westbrook. He is owed $170 million over the next four seasons and turns 31 in November. No trade partner would be willing to give up equal value for Westbrook, not at his age and salary.
His prickly personality makes a trade more difficult. He has been criticized for his ongoing mistreatment of Oklahoma City columnist Berry Tramel, and his entire approach to the series against Portland helped feed the Thunder’s flop.
Westbrook’s trash talk aimed at Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard was meant to get into Lillard’s head and psych him out. But Lillard dominated Westbrook in the matchup, and it was the Thunder, not the Blazers, who were not mentally tough enough for the series.
It’d be a longshot for the Thunder to deal Westbrook, of course. Paul George signed on to remain with the team last summer with the expectation that he’d be playing with Westbrook — a trade of Westbrook likely means the Thunder would trade George, too, and go into a full rebuild.
That’s a daunting prospect. But then again, so is the prospect of a few more years of watching Westbrook drag this team into first-round losses.
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Big issue 2: The easy move for the Thunder to make is to axe head coach Billy Donovan. He has had four years with the team, and though there may not be a coach out there who can reach Westbrook and get him to play better team basketball, we can say for sure that Donovan has not been able to do that. He is under contract through next season but could be bought out.
So who could coach Westbrook? The Thunder could try a confrontational tack and take a shot at a high-profile coach like Mark Jackson or Jeff Van Gundy, someone with enough juice to take on Westbrook publicly when he strays from team basketball. Tom Thibodeau would be an interesting fit in that regard.
Or the Thunder could attempt to nudge Westbrook in the right direction with an assistant coach who has had a good relationship with him. Philadelphia’s Monty Williams is one, and a name to watch could be Rex Kalamian, the former Thunder assistant who is now with the Clippers.
It’s not an easy job. Ask Donovan, or Scott Brooks before him. But a coaching change is the easy thing for the Thunder to do, and it would be a surprise if Donovan returned.
Free-agent outlook: For better or worse, the Thunder have no major free agents on the roster. The Raymond Felton era in OKC is likely over, but other than him, the team is pretty much set to return as it is.
In fact, the four highest-paid players on the roster — Westbrook, George, Schroder and Steven Adams — are on the books through 2021, and the Thunder won’t have cap space until that summer.
The young folks: The Thunder do have two promising young wings, starting with shooting guard Terrance Ferguson, who started 74 games this year and averaged 6.9 points, making 36.6 percent of his 3s. Ferguson is only 20, and if he can be more consistent with his shot, he has the chance to be a very good 3-and-D option.
Hamidou Diallo, too, is only 20 but showed some promise as a long-armed defender who still needs to learn to shoot. Diallo is very athletic, and played well in the G-League (18.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists in 20 games). If he can be even an average shooter from the perimeter, he’ll be a second-round find for OKC.
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Wait till next year: Next year has to be viewed with some dread on the part of Thunder fans. It’s very likely that the team brings back much the same roster and has much the same type of season — some up-and-down throughout the year, a win total in the high 40s and a first-round playoff loss. Ownership will get a hefty luxury tax bill to boot.
There should be a new coach, at least, and maybe that will be enough to change the dynamic, to bring Westbrook into line as a better team player, continue to get the most out of George and bring along the youngsters. Even still, that may not be enough to get this team out of the first round, let alone make it a serious contender in the West.