The Thunder Now Seriously Look To Contend With The Lakers

Last week, people couldn’t seem to understand why the Celtics would trade Kendrick Perkins to the Thunder for Jeff Green. While the running joke around the League was that Boston will now go down in history as still never losing a playoff series when their starting five of Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Perkins has been intact, Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti took that statement to heart. Realizing that a trip to the NBA Finals most likely goes through Los Angeles or San Antonio, today they ensured that they’ll have as good a shot as any.

This morning, the Thunder signed Perkins to a multi-year contract extension, which is believed to be worth $34.8 million over four years (per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports).

“We had a unique opportunity to enter into discussions with Kendrick to solidify his future with our organization,” said Presti in a press release. “We are pleased to know that he will be a part of our core group now and in the future. Kendrick’s blue-collar, team-first approach aligns with the vision we hold for building a sustainable team in the Oklahoma City community.”

You might think that that’s a lot of money for a guy who holds career averages of 6.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, but Perkins is just getting started. At 6-10, 280 and only 26 years old, this could turn out to be a bargain.

As all NBA GMs realize, you have to try and get the most in return for the players you deal. For Boston, they got a wing in Green who can lockdown guys like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in the East and lead their second unit. As a restricted free agent this summer, this also gives Boston the advantage to lock him in for at least one more year on a qualifying offer. Perkins, who turned down a four-year, $22 million offer from the Celtics earlier this season, would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer and most likely signed elsewhere.

With Perkins now completing a starting lineup that features Russell Westbrook, Thabo Sefolosha, Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Perkins, they have the pieces to advance. And with this core locked up for the next couple years, it’s only onward and upward in OKC.

What do you think?

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