Thunder Rewind: End of an Era

After spending his entire career in Oklahoma City, the Thunder and Russell Westbrook parted ways, ushering in the rebuild.

Russell Westbrook was left to pick up the pieces in Oklahoma City ahead of the 2016-17 season.

He wouldn’t take the floor alongside Kevin Durant or James Harden, instead leading a rag-tag roster that had been prepared for the arrival of a player like Al Horford to slot in alongside Durant if he had resigned with the franchise.

Though they failed to make it out of the first round, Westbrook treated Thunder fans to a slice of history.

Averaging a triple-double in the process, Westbrook won the League MVP after his 42 triple-doubles helped the Thunder land the No. 6-seed in the Western Conference.

Oklahoma City couldn’t overcome his absence from the floor when they turned to the bench, getting ousted by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.

So in response, Sam Presti brought in some help.

Taking advantage of a disgruntled superstar, Presti shipped Victor Oladipo to the Indiana Pacers in return for Paul George. He also brought in Carmelo Anthony to give the Thunder a recognizable “Big 3”, and hopefully guide OKC back to contention.

But it took some time for the team to come together, and they only won one more game than the year prior. Finishing with the fourth seed in the Western Conference, the Thunder drew a first round matchup with the Utah Jazz, led by budding star Donovan Mitchell.

Unable to shake the ghost of Ricky Rubio, Westbrook and the new-look Thunder faltered, falling to Utah 4-2 to close their season.

Again struggling to find the right mix of players, Presti turned Anthony into Dennis Schroder as OKC ran it back with George, getting the star to agree to a four-year contract with OKC.

And while the season win total went up again, finishing 49-33, Oklahoma City again fell to the sixth seed, matching up with Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Dropping the first two games in Portland, the Thunder returned home and emerged victorious in a must-win Game 3. But C.J. McCollum and Lillard proved to be too much.

 The duo combined for 51 points in Portland’s 111-98 win in Game 4, before Lillard waved goodbye to the Thunder as the NBA knew them, hitting a buzzer beater in Game 5 to end the season and the Westbrook-George era in OKC.

In the early hours on July 6, Presti helped the Los Angeles Clippers land Kawhi Leonard by sending George to LA for a record-setting haul of draft picks, Danilo Galinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

After the dust settled on that major move, Westbrook was shipped out of Oklahoma City to reunite with Harden in Houston, bringing Chris Paul back to Oklahoma City, but to the Chesapeake Energy Arena for the first time as a member of the Thunder.

Paul helped guide the young Thunder squad through not just the NBA regular season, but the world shutting down and the NBA restart in the Orlando Bubble.

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Thunder Rewind:

• A franchise-altering series 

• OKC cruises through the west

• Best in the west

• OKC arrives ahead of schedule in Year 2

• New beginnings in Oklahoma City

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OKC finished level on record with the Rockets, setting up a 4-5 matchup for the ages.

Battling back-and-forth, Houston emerged victorious despite an impressive Game 7 performance from Thunder rookie Lu Dort.

Paul’s stay in OKC was limited to just a single year, as Presti helped send him to Phoenix in the offseason, officially turning the keys to the franchise over to Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort and the Thunder’s new young core.