NBA free agent 2017 rumors: Blake Griffin to the Thunder is a pipe dream

The Thunder are in need of a second star player to pair with Russell Westbrook, and are reportedly looking at Blake Griffin to be that guy.

The Thunder have been planning to pursue Griffin for months now, according to ESPN’s Royce Young. With Chris Paul out of the picture for the Clippers, that could create a window of opportunity for Griffin to move on.

Griffin was born in Oklahoma City and has ties there, so there will always be speculation of him returning to where he played his college ball. Griffin and Westbrook would instantly be one of the better pick-and-roll tandems in the league if they came together.

Griffin wasn’t able to stay healthy last season and only played 61 games, but he was still productive. He averaged 21.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game while stretching out to the three-point line a bit more.

But though a Griffin-Westbrook pairing would be dynamic, it will be a huge challenge for the Thunder to create the means to bring them together.

A Westbrook-Griffin pairing is a match made in heaven. Westbrook isn’t the same patient, cerebral passer Chris Paul is, but his brute force and physical dominance can open doors for Griffin that Paul never could.

Imagine having Griffin get the same dump offs at the rim that currently go to Domantas Sabonis or Taj Gibson. Griffin would still be able to expand his game out to the elbow and work in the pick-and-pop, too.

Griffin would also give the Thunder another ball handler to run their offense through. Westbrook couldn’t afford to take rests last season because there was no option at backup point.

Griffin fixes that, because we’ve seen him run offenses as a lead ball handler at a high level. He’s a capable passer, and when he gets the ball on the break, he can find the open man. Acquiring Griffin would be the old “two birds with one stone” trick for the Thunder. They’d have their star, and they’d have another initiator.

For one, the Thunder don’t have close to enough cap room to sign Griffin outright. With extensions for Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams kicking in for what amounts to about a $33.5 million increase in their payroll, the Thunder are looking at $112 million in salary going into next season. The salary cap is projected to be $99 million, so the Thunder need to shed enough salary to get close to $30 million under the cap to sign Griffin as a free agent, which will be extremely difficult since they could begin the summer eight figures over the cap.

As Young noted, the Thunder could concoct sign-and-trade options for Griffin if he wants to play with Westbrook. However, those are difficult in this new CBA, especially with the Thunder needing to match up to Griffin’s salary. Because Oklahoma City has already traded picks in 2018 and 2020, it isn’t able to move another pick until the 2022 season, per NBA rules.

Plus, would Griffin actually trade being in Los Angeles for a return to Oklahoma City even if the money somehow becomes equal? Market matters a lot less than it used to, but Griffin still has more opportunity off the court in L.A. than he could ever dream of in Oklahoma City.

Even if the Thunder could create the salary-cap means to bring Griffin in, it’s not a terribly enticing destination. As we saw with Kevin Durant and the Wizards, players don’t always want to play in their hometown anyway. Plus, the Clippers seem to be confident they can retain Griffin now that Paul is gone.

The Thunder may be hopeful, but there are just too many barriers in the way for this to happen. Never say never, but between their salary and other, more attractive suitors, a Westbrook-Griffin pairing is a long shot.