The Oklahoma City Thunder shocked the basketball world be signing All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook to a three-year contract extension late Wednesday evening. It's a move that most of us didn't see coming, especially considering Westbrook himself could have earned millions more in cold-hard cash as a free agent next summer.
Now that Westbrook will be in Oklahoma City through at least the 2017-18 season, we know full well that he's going to be the face of a playoff team. That's only magnified with the departure of Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors.
What does this mean from a fantasy perspective? Well, the first point here is obvious. When taking into account re-draft contests, absolutely nothing changes. We already had Westbrook pegged as the top guard heading into the 2016-17 season — an accomplishment he met with flying colors despite Durant's presence on the Thunder last season.
Instead, it's all about his value from a dynasty perspective.
In reality, Westbrook would have likely been taking No. 1 in dyno contests before Wednesday's news broke. Though, the questions arising from doing so would have been greater. The All-Star was previousy slated to become a free agent heading into next summer, which would have sent into motion questions about his potential landing spot. With that, questions would then come up about how good of a fit he might be and whether his success in Oklahoma City would translate to a new franchise.
That can all be thrown out the window. It can also be laughed off now that Westbrook doesn't have a former NBA MVP to share shot opportunities with. This brings us to our first point.
Let's say Durant's absence gives Westbrook five more shot attempts per game, something that might very well happen with Victor Oladipo acting as the team's No. 2 scoring option. Assuming there's no drop in Russ's part as it relates to points per shot and effective field goal percentage, we're looking at a guard that could very well average 30-plus points per game in 2016-17 and moving forward.
Though, there's something else important to note here. Without Durant and his .573 effective field goal percentage, Westbrook's assist numbers will likely decrease. After all, Oladipo and whoever else is being asked to chip in, won't be as effective as Durant.
Even then, an increase in 2-3 assists per game won't have anywhere near the negative impact as an increase of nearly seven points per outing.