Oklahoma City Thunder Players' Plans During the NBA Lockout

The NBA lockout is still keeping players from interacting with their teams, and a young team like the Oklahoma City Thunder would be making great use of their team's resources. With pretty much the entire roster already under contract for next season, the Thunder have shown they have the talent to make a strong run this season.

The question that remains is without the team's resources, will the Oklahoma City Thunder be ready for the upcoming season? Here is an update on what each player under contract has been during as the lockout continues to stop them from preparing as a team for the upcoming season. 

Kevin Durant

Durant has been keeping himself busy training for next year, dominating the Goodman League, and creating quite the name for himself throughout the country. He has been spending most of his summer nights demonstrating his amazing talent, dropping more points than any one currently in the news, and showing everyone that he is going to play at the top of his game whether it's in the NBA or any game held anywhere.

He may be the only NBA player that is really keeping fans entertained during this lockout while showing his genuine love for the game. A rumor about a possible starring movie role has begun to surface, but there are not many details about the possible step into Hollywood for the young star. As far as playing overseas goes, Durant has been in negotiation talks with the Turkish club Besiktas but he is in no hurry to leave the states and has left October 1 as his deadline. 

Kendrick Perkins:

Like Durant, Kendrick Perkins has kept his name in the headlines, except the news around the team's new center has been extremely negative. He was recently arrested, not long after a three-day basketball camp hosted by himself, after a scene at a local nightclub brought about charges of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

Such small charges would have fallen out of the media quickly, but he has decided to fight the charges in court. He is attempting to clear his name, as he believes these charges hurt his image and claims that much of the information has been inaccurate (he claims he was not intoxicated).

Besides the arrest, I would assume Perkins is training for the upcoming year and will decide about an overseas venture after he decides the small legal issues have been cleared.  

Russell Westbrook

Westbrook has decided to spend his extra time during the lockout returning to school at UCLA and possibly looking to finish the credits needed to earn his degree. He is joining Baron Davis, Kevin Love and Trevor Ariza at the school, and they are all taking the same class.

There seems to be a lot of talk about trading Westbrook when the season begins (all rumors from bored NBA fans), but there has not been much talk recently to indicate that he has any interest heading overseas. There is little doubt that he will be ready for next season.

James Harden

Like Durant, Harden has been working on his game in a Pro-Am league, the Drew League. He even had the opportunity to face off against Durant in the Goodman League vs Drew League battle this week.

The Drew League will definitely keep Harden in shape for next year as he plays against players of a different caliber of talent, including Kobe Bryant. There has been little talk about an overseas contract for Harden, but as the lockout goes on the possibility will likely come up. 

Nate Robinson

Robinson's funny personality has kept his antics high this summer as he announced a few weeks ago he would like to try out for an NFL team for the upcoming season. Whether or not this has any truth to it, it wouldn't be surprising to see the small point guard try to prove himself in another sport while waiting for the NBA lockout to end.

Recently there hasn't been any news on his NFL career, but he has been spending his extra time cheering on his 6-year-old son who has become quite a football player. As long as Robinson stays healthy for the upcoming season there is no reason he shouldn't be a solid bench player for OKC.

Nazr Mohammed

Mohammed joined his former Kentucky teammates a few weeks ago to take on the Dominican Republic national team in an exhibition game. Recently he has been attempting to get Durant, Harden and few of his other teammates to join him in the Las Vegas summer league at Impact Academy.

Thabo Sefolosha

There has not been much news about Sefolosha so far this summer, but he has been playing for the national team in Switzerland. He took part in the EuroBasket Division B games and has stated that he is getting himself in shape for the NBA season, but overall he has kept his name out of the news in the states.


Nick Collison

Collison recently announced that he will be joining former Jayhawks teammates in a exhibition game on Sept. 24. As far as overseas play goes, there has been little in the news recently to suggest he is looking elsewhere for a contract.

Daequan Cook

Cook has been getting ready for the upcoming season by training and making a few appearances at the Indy Pro-Am circuit. He has had an offer from Caja Laboral of the Spanish league, but it is unclear whether he will be journeying overseas anytime soon.

Cole Aldrich

Aldrich has been doing some charity work and helped to give back to the community by bringing 20 young students back-to-school shopping and paying the cost. He has stated that he does not think he'll be playing in Europe this season and plans to stay in Lawrence and work out until the lockout ends.  

Eric Maynor

Maynor is hosting and operating a youth basketball camp this summer at his former campus at VCU. He will be working with teammates to meet up together to hold offseason workouts, as he recently joined Durant, Harden and Perkins for a similar workout. 

BJ Mullens

There is no news on Mullens currently. 

Serge Ibaka

Ibaka was recently nationalized by Spain and has been competing for the Spanish national team. So far his play overseas has indicated he is in great shape and is continuing to build on the success he saw towards the end of last season. 

Royal Ivey

Ivey has returned to school at the University of Texas and is attempting to complete his degree in elementary education. He has announced that he signed papers to become an undergraduate-student coach while the lockout continues, but has not really indicated his workout plans for the upcoming months.   

Robert Vaden

There has been no recent news on Robert Vaden.

It seems that the OKC players are keeping them selves in shape as they get ready for the upcoming season. We will see if they can grow even more as a team this year, and how Durant's leadership may help them to advance further into the NBA finals.