Russell Westbrook had 30 points, eight rebounds and 13 assists in Oklahoma City's 124-107 win over the Raptors on Wednesday. Westbrook has begun to play like his MVP self of late and has a PER of 39.1 over his last five games.

"I think the fact that Russ is just playing -- not trying to defer to anybody, to any one of us -- just playing his game and letting us play off him ... I think he's much more effective by doing that rather than deferring to myself or Paul (George)," Carmelo Anthony said. "We know what we bring to the game. We understand it. We accept it. And by that, he's able to just play his game, relax and do what he does best. We need that. We need that Russ out there. Not the one who defers to us. Let us figure it out."

Anthony has slid to a more auxiliary role.

"It takes time to get used to one another," Anthony said. "I said this early in the season: Nothing happens overnight. It takes time for everybody to figure it out. This was all new, and it's still all new, but the more time that goes by, the more we're able to figure it out. Learning each other, figure out each other's tendencies. But I think the most important thing is we're starting to accept what we bring to the game and what we bring to the team, and everybody's honoring that."

Carmelo Anthony is embracing his role playing off the ball.

In Friday's game, Anthony scored 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting including 7-of-12 from 3 as most of his offense came on catch-and-shoot opportunities.  

"One hundred percent," Billy Donovan said when asked if that was the ideal kind of offensive game for Anthony. "I give him a lot of credit because this is different for him, and he's really been open-minded about trying to do whatever he can do to help the team. And as a coach, you really appreciate someone that's been in the game such a long time and established himself as a 10-time All-Star, 14 years in the league, one of the all-time greats, that he's willing to look at ways that he can do things a little bit differently to help our team."

"I think for me it's just a matter of accepting that role. That's all it is," Anthony said. "Realizing that's what it's going to be, these are the type of shots I'm going to get, this is the type of offense we're going to be running and accepting that, and working on that role. That's something that I've kind of been doing over the past week, is allowing myself to accept that role and do whatever I gotta do to make this team win."

Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder have shown no impulse to entertain trade discussions on Paul George, according to a source.

George can become a free agent this offseason and his incorporation into the Thunder lineup has been a struggle at times.

The same source also says the Thunder were under no delusions that George would commit to them beyond the current season when they traded for him in June.

According to multiple media reports, George has remained closely linked with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have disappointed so far during the first season with Paul George.

"With the talent we have, we don't want to just be getting by," George said. "We want to start building towards being a dominant team."

"It's a three-man circus," a Western Conference executive told Bleacher Report. "They don't play well together. There's no ball movement, no chemistry. You can tell by watching them play, it's out of sync. There's no rhyme or rhythm to how they play."

George was asked if he may give the Thunder a heads-up on his free agency the way he did with the Pacers.

"Well, I think this is a different scenario because it's our only year together as far as we're on one-year contracts," George told Bleacher Report. "I want to put everything into this and see where that takes us. I'm not giving up; I'm not giving in. I want to give this thing everything I have and we'll see where it goes."

Westbrook signed an extension in September but sources say the Thunder are under no delusions that George would commit to anything beyond the current season.

"We all enjoy playing with one another," George told B/R. "This could possibly be me being here for multiple years. But ... I'm not going to just throw it in and be like, 'No, I'm done with this.' We've got a long, long, long season ahead of us. And I'm committed to that."

George remains optimistic about Oklahoma City's odds this season.

"We're going to turn this season around and we're going to start playing the right way," he told B/R. "I'm sure late in the season, in April and May, we'll be happy where we're at."

The Oklahoma City Thunder celebrated their recent road wins at Indiana and Philadelphia, but a somber mood returned after they lost at the Knicks on Saturday.

Both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony are adjusting to different roles with the Thunder.

"We've never had chemistry problems. We like, and enjoy, playing with one another. It's never been a chemistry problem," George said. "We've just got to figure out how to do so, but there's never been chemistry problems with this group. We've embraced this since we came together that this was going to be a journey for us, and that's where we're at. We're within the thick of this journey right now."

"It is a different situation for me? Yes. Different dynamic for me? Yes," Anthony said. "Something I have to accept. Something I'm working on every day as far as my role on this team, what we need from me in order for this team to be successful. But this is, for me and the team, it's about big picture for us. It's a bigger picture. That's my goal and not be disappointed or get down when a game or two don't go your way or shots are not falling ,because our goal is a bigger picture."

While Paul George feels closure over his tenure with the Indiana Pacers, he does feel a sense of regret over how it ended.

"I think both sides -- myself and the front office -- would definitely like to have handled things better," George said. "I for sure will take ownership on that. But I have no regrets on the outcome."

George declined to say specifically what those regrets are. "I know what I would've changed," he said, "but I'll keep that to myself."

The Pacers traded George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Oladipo has become an All-Star candidate with the Pacers.

"It's more so of Indiana doing well -- where they're at now, that was closure for me," George said. "At the end of the day, when we reached out to the front office to tell them our plans, our future plans, it was to help them along the way, and it was bad at first, so to speak, that they thought with this trade it wasn't gonna pan out. But it obviously did.

"They got two great young pieces, so that was good for me to see that this franchise changed the locker room and [is] going in the right direction."

The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to struggle, losing at home on Monday to the Charlotte Hornets.

"For the talent that we have, obviously this is not where we want to be," Paul George said. "But we're going to remain optimistic, though, about the future and what we can do. Once we can find a way to really do it night in and night out, it's no panic mode, but we have to start playing better. It's getting to a point where we can't allow ourselves to be at this point. We can say we're going to figure it out, we can say all that. But at some point it's gotta stop."

Oklahoma City currently is ninth in the Western Conference.

"It's up to us, honestly," Westbrook said when asked how the team is going to turn the corner. "Just gotta figure it out and play the same way every night."

Nazr Mohammed has joined the front office of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“This is a great opportunity to learn all the aspects of the business and become a well-rounded basketball executive,” Mohammed wrote on The Players Tribune speaking about his new job.

“When you see me at an arena from here on out, you’ll know what I’m up to.”

Mohammed said one of his goals is to become an NBA general manager.