One day after the Thunder were eliminated from their first round series against the Jazz, Carmelo Anthony rejected the possibility of accepting a bench role next season.

"Yeah, I'm not sacrificing no bench role," Anthony said. "That's out of the question."

Anthony struggled at times this season and was particularly limited in the playoffs.

When asked about moving to the second unit, and asking Paul George as he walked by, "Hey, P! They want me to come off the bench!"

Anthony is owed $28 million on the final season of his contract.

Anthony said he's going to have to weigh his basketball happiness with whatever he decides.

"I think for me, my focus would be on kind of figuring out what I want out of the rest of my career, what I want in my future, what am I willing to accept, if I'm willing to accept that at all," Anthony, 34, said. "I think everybody knows that I've sacrificed kind of damned near everything, family, moving here by myself, sacrificed my game for the sake of the team, and was willing to sacrifice anything and everything in order for this situation to work out. So it's something I really have to think about, if I really want to be this type of player, finish out my career as this type of player, knowing that I have so much left in the tank and I bring so much to the game of basketball."

The first year of the Oklahoma City Thunder experiment with Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony featured many highs and lows.

The Thunder had big wins against some of the league's best teams, but they also inexplicably lost with frequency to teams in the lottery.

Sources within the Thunder were adamant that chemistry was never an issue for the team. Even as players struggled to adjust to new roles, they bought into what they were trying to accomplish.

George and Anthony in particular made the biggest adjustments. Westbrook took a lesser role early in the season and struggled, but was playing similar to his 16-17 season as the year progressed.

Paul George will be a free agent this offseason after what was an up-and-down season for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"It was an amazing season," George said. "Really a learning experience. Playing off Russ and Melo [Carmelo Anthony]. Steve-o [Steven Adams]. Seeing what potential is like having [Andre Roberson] out there. It was a lot to be happy about. The fans, city, organization. everything has been unbelievable."

George said "it's too soon" to make any decision.

"I would love to remain a Thunder but that's what this summer is for. We'll address that in the summer," George said.

George said he wasn't necessarily surprised the Thunder exited in the first round.

"I think talent-wise and all of that, but it's our first year playing together," he said. "I understood that coming in. I thought we had a high ceiling to win it, high expectations to win it, but I think you got to really figure out the in-between stuff when you assimilate a team, and that can take some time to unravel how to become a championship team."

George has long been linked to the Los Angeles Lakers, who will have max cap space. George could also consider the Philadelphia 76ers.

Russell Westbrook was asked about incidents he had as he exited the court toward the locker room at halftime and at the conclusion of Game 6.

"I didn't confront fans; fans confronted me," Westbrook said. "Here in Utah, man, a lot of disrespectful, vulgar things are said to the players here with these fans. It's truly disrespectful. Talk about your families, your kids. It's truly disrespectful to the game, man."

Westbrook slapped at a fan's cellphone in the postgame exit. 

Russell Westbrook confronts a fan as he exits the floor. pic.twitter.com/hJaC6sCvDh

— RealGM (@RealGM) April 28, 2018

"I think it's something that needs to be brought up," he continued. "I'm tired of just going out and playing, then the fans saying whatever the hell they want to say. I'm not with that. If I was on the street, they wouldn't just come up to me and say anything crazy, because I don't play that s---. So, to disrespect me and do whatever they want to do needs to be put to a stop, especially here in Utah."

Russell Westbrook has been fined $10,000 and assessed a technical foul after the fact for his incident in Game 4 in which he confronted Rudy Gobert.

The incident occurred after Westbrook came onto the court as a substitution following a stoppage in play due to a foul with 7:55 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Kevin Durant is attempting to move forward from his past with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but incidents such as when he accidentally liked an Instagram post critical of Russell Westbrook bring back old issues.

"I know what it is nowadays," Durant said after shoot-around Tuesday. "I know what the truth is. It is what it is. I don’t want problems with nobody."

In September, Durant responded twice — both times in the third person — to a tweet asking for "one legitimate reason for leaving (Oklahoma City) other than getting a championship." The first response read, "He didn’t like the organization or playing for Billy Donovan. His roster wasn’t that good, it was just him and russ." The second tweet only made things worse: "Imagine taking russ off that team, see how bad they were. Kd can’t win a championship with those cats."

Durant's relationship with Westbrook has seemingly improved over the past few months.

Russell Westbrook turned Oklahoma City's first round matchup against the Jazz personal with his comments after Game 3 that Ricky Rubio wouldn't replicate his offensive output.

Westbrook was aggressive on defense and ultimately was limited by foul trouble.

The Jazz attempted to keep their play team-oriented.

"We just stayed within ourselves," Donovan Mitchell said. "We always say the strength of our team is the strength of our team. I said this morning we're not really worried about one individual comment. I think if we get caught up in that it takes us out of our own game, and our play showed tonight that we really just focused on each other and made the right plays when we needed to."

Kevin Durant claims he accidentally 'Liked' a comment on Instagram that blames Russell Westbrook for why the Thunder were unable to win a title.

Sheesh. https://t.co/mv6PJYoxEi

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 23, 2018

Durant apparently spoke with Royce Young after the initial post.

Kevin Durant tells me it was a "total accident" that he liked a comment on Instagram about Russell Westbrook. Was just an honest mistake.

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 23, 2018

What happened in three snapshots in the NBA Playoffs on Wednesday, April 18.

The following graphics show the Net Rating, Offensive Rating and Defensive Rating rankings for all 16 teams in the 2018 NBA Playoffs.