5 Reasons Oklahoma City Thunder Should Look to Trade Russell Westbrook

Russell Westbrook is one of the best point guards in the game. 

He fits into that new breed of shoot-first point guards that have made an influx into the league recently. All lead by the reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose.

However, let's make one thing clear. While Westbrook and Rose' games are similar, Russell Westbrook has one weapon that Derrick Rose doesn't - Kevin Durant.

Russell Westbrook needs to realize how special his teammate Kevin Durant actually is. He's already one of the best players in the game period and is only going to get better from here on out. As bad as Russell Westbrook doesn't want to admit it, he's the number two and Durant is one. End of discussion.

However, Westbrook may not be ready to give up that easily and may never settle for number two. The OKC Thunder need to realize this and trade the UCLA point guard, and here are five solid reasons why...

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5. His Value Is Highest It Will Ever Be

Many NBA teams will want Russell Westbrook for many reasons. 

First, he's a 22 year old All-Star Point Guard who's about to enter the prime of his career. Teams would to love to acquire Westbrook now when he's on the upward instead of getting him when he's at his peak and plateaued. . 

The second perk is his rookie contract (obviously this depends upon the upcoming CBA, but lets assume rookie contract stays). Teams would be able to acquire Westbrook without damaging their salary cap and bring in more talent players and wait a year before they pay Westbrook the big bucks.

This all seems like more reason for the Thunder to keep Westbrook. However, that's what I want to clear up. I'm not saying Russell Westbrook is a bad point guard, in fact he's an amazing point guard and an absolute stud. What I'm trying to get across is the fact that Westbrook is the wrong point guard for the OKC Thunder. They need a pass-first point that can involve other but then can get his when needs.

Russell Westbrook's value may not get any higher than it is right now. The Thunder should take advantage of that and do it NOW. 

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4. Big Name Talent Available on Trading Block

Incase Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder organization haven't heard, there are a couple of unhappy superstars available on the block. A chance to acquire a franchise talent doesn't come around every day. It's in the Thunder's best interest to take full advantage of this opportunity. 

I'm not stating that they should openly put Russell Westbrook on the trading block, but simply gauge his value by asking around and see what you can get for the All-Star Point Guard. 

To me, Chris Paul seems like the perfect option. It doesn't seem as if the Hornets are going to be able to acquire any sort of superstar talent to pair with Chris Paul. They'll make it worse if they decide to re-sign PF David West and use up a chunk of their cap. 

If you're the Thunder, you take advantage of this situation by offering the Hornets an offer they simply can't refuse. Swap Westbrook for Paul and throw in a couple of picks and salary fillers. 

This works for both sides

-Chris Paul gets a shot at a title alongside the best pure scorer in the game, Kevin Durant. The Thunder would immediately become favorites for the Western Conference title. Chris Paul would gladly involve his teammates and make them all seem better than they are. I could see him averaging close to 13-14 assists with this team, seeing how unselfish he is. 

-Russell Westbrook would finally get his chance to be "The Man." He'll be the number one option in the Big Easy and no one will criticize him for taking too many shots. Even though the Hornets might not win that many games, Westbrook would be fine simply having a team of his own. In addition, the Hornets won't lose Paul to free agency for nothing (as we all know he's leaving). 

3. Westbrook Doesn't Involve His Teammates

What? How can you say that? He averaged eight assists a game. 

Yes, he did. To be honest, the title speaks more visually than it does statistically. When you watch as many NBA games as I do, you began to realize how sometimes stats can be misleading. Case in point. 

Believe it or not but the OKC have an enormous amount of talent outside of Durant and Westbrook. James Harden is a person that I believe should have gotten the ball much more than he did last season. Even though Harden didn't start games, he finished them. He's a lefty sharpshooter with impressive ball handling skills for a two-guard. So much so that when Westbrook was on the bench, Harden would bring the ball up on several occasions. 

Serge Ibaka is another player who has a ton of potential, and is just waiting to break out. He's a shot-blocking machine and earned his nickname of "I-block-a" in the playoffs. His offensive game is developing and he has a nice touch from 12 to 15 feet. 

I bring them up because those players combined averaged 22.1 points per game in the regular season. Russell Westbrook by himself averaged just about 22 points per game. In the playoffs, they combined for 23.6 points per game while Russell Westbrook alone averaged 23.8 points per game. 

You see the big picture?

There is no way those two players combined should be averaging less points than the team's starting point guard alone. Russell Westbrook tends to get many his assists through Kevin Durant's shot making so they are a little inflated due to a talent like Durant, but he could easily average over 10 a game if he involved Harden and Ibaka more on the offense. 

Harden could easily be a 20-point scorer if utilized the right way and Ibaka could chip in 12-14 a game. Russell Westbrook needs to realize the immense talent surrounding him and not let their potential go to waste. 

2. Durant Cannot Sacrifice His Scoring

If there is one person who cannot comprise his game, it's Kevin Durant. He is the face of the franchise, the number one option, the cornerstone, the building block, batman, head honcho and the alpha male. Basically he is the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Asking Durant to sacrifice his scoring or lack of touches, just so Russell Westbrook can get his, is simply downright absurd. Anytime the ball doesn't touch Durant's hand on a Thunder offensive possession is simply a bad possession. Players are built around him, not vice verse.

When Durant needs help, then Westbrook needs to step up. But if Durant is feeling it on a particular night, then Westbrook or anyone else on the team needs to keep feeding him the rock and simply getting out of his way.

The Thunder start and end with Kevin Durant, and they will go as far as Kevin Durant will take them.  

1. Clear Power Struggle

Last season's Western Conference Playoffs made this statement from an opinion into a fact. 

Clearly, for even casual fans to see, it was apparent that Russell Westbrook had decided it was his coming out party to be the number one option. He completely ignored Kevin Durant on many possessions and proceeded to simply bring the ball up and shoot before the shot clock even turned to 23 seconds. 

Even since his rookie season, Westbrook has never been the pass first point guard, but at least it was clear that he knew he had to defer to Durant on offense. It seemed like this was foreshadowed in some way. The assists were slowly lowering while the shot attempts kept increasing. Then all hell broke loose in the playoffs. To remind you of Westbrook's horrid shot attempts and field goal percentage, here are some of his shooting performances from the playoffs.

12-23 

7-18

6-15

12-30

3-15

9-23

9-20

If those numbers don't speak for themselves, I don't know what will. Luckily for Westbrook, Durant isn't the type of player to make any sort of drama out of this. But it's clear, that anytime someone else is attempting more shots than the NBA's two time leading scorer on his own team, then it's a problem.