Kevin Durant And Nike Basketball Unveil Team USA Uniforms For 2012 London Olympics

With Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook Locked Up Is Scott Brooks On The Chopping Block?

The Oklahoma City Thunder have locked up Russell Westbrook with a five-year, $80 million extension, which means that the team has $186 million going towards extensions to keep Westbrook and Kevin Durant in Thunder uniforms for the next few years. Since it seems that neither Durant nor Westbrook are going to be going anywhere any time soon, you have to wonder if there is anybody that could.

According to SB Nation's Bomani Jones, the team's head coach Scott Brooks could be on the hot seat in Oklahoma City.

Brooks is a good coach. Oklahoma City got too successful too soon for that not to be the case. Is he a coach that can take a team to a championship? That seems more debatable than whether a team could win one with Russell Westbrook running the offense.

Whose job is it to mold Westbrook into the point guard the Thunder needs him to be? Who's supposed to provide the framework necessary to make both Durant and guys like Thabo Sefalosha in position to take and make good shots? Who is supposed to make Durant understand that he sometimes has to take shots, not just shoot them? Since when has such a talented scorer been allowed to tolerate a lesser player wanting shots more than him?

Jones draws this conclusion by comparing Brooks' situation in Oklahoma City to Mike Brown's situation in Cleveland. Jones points out that both Brooks and Brown were young, they both coached young superstars and both coaches were able to get their teams to win.

And...Brown was fired after winning 147 games and three playoff series in his last two seasons with the Cavs, and being run over by a ball-dominating superstar he couldn't control. Those are the breaks.

And they sound awfully familiar.

Jones believes that Brooks' ability to keep his job could depend on his ability to win a championship in the coming seasons. While nothing is certain, it's definitely something to keep in mind.

For more updates on the Thunder, check out Welcome To Loud City.

Russell Westbrook And Kevin Durant Will Handcuff Thunder Financially By 2013-14

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are going to make sure the Oklahoma City Thunder are contenders for the foreseeable future for the NBA Title. The unfortunate side is that the Thunder is also going to be a very expensive team in the not-too-distant future. SB Nation's Tom Ziller says the team is up against a wall as soon as 2013-14 with other players like James Harden coming available for their own extensions.

The dilemma comes with the announced five-year extension for $80 million given to point guard Russell Westbrook today. Aside from Durant, he's definitely the team's other star, but there's an escalating cost to the NBA and Sam Presti will likely have a plan in place when Harden and company come due. Ziller says he'll need one.

"Here's the problem: with just Durant and Westbrook alone, some $33.5 million in 2013-14 salary will be locked up," writes Ziller. "Kendrick Perkins is also due more than $8 million that season, and if Harden and Ibaka each demand their own Westbrookian contracts, the Thunder will be pressing up against the luxury tax line while accounting for just five players.

"It could force the Thunder to trade Westbrook to make room for Harden and Ibaka, or be willing to let go of either Harden (unlikely) or Ibaka. Alternately, the Thunder could wade headfirst into the luxury tax pool, should owner Clay Bennett decide that building a dynasty is more important than turning a profit in a small market."

Russell Westbrook's Extension Makes Thunder 'Too Good To Be True' For Next Few Years

The drama has played itself out, according to Sam Amick, and all egos aboard the Oklahoma City Thunder have been assuaged. Kevin Durant already had his payday and Russell Westbrook was given his today with the announced five-year $80 million extension for the star point guard. That keeps the tandem together through the 2015-16 season, when Durant’s contract will be up.

Earlier this year, there was a dramatic encounter between the two on Dec. 29 when Durant and Westbrook got into it on the bench. Durant was trying to calm his teammate and things only became more heated, leading many to wonder whether the two could co-exist. Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated now says those days are behind the Thunder now and calls the situation “”http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/sam_amick/01/19/russell.westbrook/index.html" target="new">too good to be true" for Sam Presti and company.

“Westbrook could have made life harder on Presti, deciding to play this season out and potentially push for a five-year, $94 million deal like Rose was recently given so long as the he was deemed All-NBA or an All-Star for a second time. It’s part of the league’s new “Rose rule” that allows a max deal to account for 30 percent of the salary cap as opposed to 25 percent, like Westbrook’s deal.

“There is more work to be done for Presti, as the contracts of guard James Harden and forward Serge Ibaka (both signed through 2013) now move up on his list of priorities. But it all gets easier with Durant and Westbrook re-signed and on the same pay scale, and this too-good-to-be-true Thunder team that fell to Dallas in the Western Conference finals last May is in an even better place than before because of it.”

Russell Westbrook Contract: Oklahoma City Thunder PG Gets Five Year Max Extension

After a brief dust-up on the bench at the end of a game earlier in the season, some observers thought that Oklahoma City's duo of All-NBA players, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, would end up breaking apart like so many young NBA cores have in the past.

However, the Thunder clearly had no intention of letting that happen, as they have reportedly agreed Thursday to a five-year $80 million max extension with Westbrook that will keep the 6'3 190 PG in Oklahoma City for most of the next decade:

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski

Russell Westbrook has signed a five-year, $78 million-plus max extension with Oklahoma City, league sources tell Y! Sports.

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Westbrook's numbers are slightly off from last year, as the UCLA product is averaging one fewer point and three fewer assists coming off a second-team All-NBA campaign.

However, the Thunder are off to one of the fastest starts in the NBA, going 12-3 with a +4.5 point differential, and they're already two games up on their nearest competitor in the West.

Now, the question becomes whether the small-market team will be able to afford signing James Harden and Serge Ibaka, two other important parts of their core, to long-term extensions in the coming years as well.

Thunder, Russell Westbrook Extension Talks: Both Sides "Dug In"

Oklahoma City Thunder and Russell Westbrook are "dug in" in negotiations for an extension thanks to the Derrick Rose Rule.