Before the Olympics, one of the most talked about items with many NBA’ers was the fact if the Oklahoma City Thunder would lock up James Harden and Serge Ibaka (both would become restricted free agents next summer) and if OKC could afford keeping both of the players on.
Seems we have an answer. Kinda.
Via Adrian Wojnarowski, Serge Ibaka signed a 4-year extension with the Thunder.
Oklahoma City forward Serge Ibaka has reached agreement on a four-year, $48 million contract extension, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Serge Ibaka would now be locked up along with the Thunder’s other young guns in Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. Some may look at $12 million price tag and may seem perplexed, but in a league where $10-$12 million is the going rate for bigs, it’s a great deal for OKC. Ibaka is 22 years old and the premier shot blocker in the league.
What becomes fuzzy is will the Thunder offer Harden an extension given after the 2012-2013 season money will get tight for the franchise. They will have Ibaka, Durant, an Ibaka committed to (I believe) $46 million.
While it’s not impossible, but OKC will have to be creative in extending The Beard.
