FEBRUARY 14: The Thunder have officially signed Solomon to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release.
FEBRUARY 12: The Thunder intend to fill one of the open spots on their 15-man roster by signing G League forward Richard Solomon to a 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Solomon, 26, has never appeared in a regular season NBA game, though he spent training camp with the Thunder in 2014, the Hawks in 2016, and OKC again in 2018. This season, the former Cal standout has played for the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s NBAGL affiliate, averaging 13.6 PPG and 8.6 RPG on 59.8% shooting in 31 games (26.5 MPG).
Solomon is unlikely to see much action for the Thunder, who are required by NBA rules to add a player to their roster soon. Currently, Oklahoma City is carrying 12 players, two below the league-mandated 14-player minimum.
Most teams that dipped below that minimum at the trade deadline have until after the All-Star break to get their roster count back up to 14, since there’s a two-week grace period. However, the Thunder have been below the minimum since February 1, when they sent Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to Chicago, so they’ll have to make a move this week.
While this is just my speculation, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Thunder wait until Thursday to finalize Solomon’s deal. That would allow the team to avoid keeping him on the roster for longer than 10 days — 10-day contracts must span at least three games, and OKC’s next three games fall on February 14, February 22, and February 23.
cool picture
I keep reading his name as Ri-shard. As if he is French. I have no idea why. Perhaps he should think about dropping plain old Richard and pronounce it as Ri-shard. Maybe he’ll stick in the league longer? Europeans often get a longer leash than Americans do in the league.