How the Thunder has braced for the cost of bringing back Paul George

If Paul George, left, becomes a free agent this summer and signs a maximum contract with the Thunder, the team would owe more than $65 million in salary to George and Russell Westbrook, right, next season. [PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN]

If the Thunder wanted to save money, it had the chance.

Two years ago when Kevin Durant left the franchise in free agency, Oklahoma City found itself at a crossroads. It could trade its remaining All-Star, Russell Westbrook, and shift into a low-cost rebuild. Or it could re-sign Westbrook for the short term and set down a high-priced path to keeping him around longer.

“We chose to keep competing,” general manager Sam Presti said at a postseason news conference last week. “We chose to keep going, to see if we could find a way to stay at an elite level.”

There always was going to be a cost to that, and the price of competing in the NBA is rising.