Thunder Add Melvin Frazier Jr., Waive Antonius Cleveland

The Thunder are adjusting their backcourt depth, essentially exchanging one 6’5″ shooting guard for another. The club has signed Melvin Frazier Jr. and waived Antonius Cleveland, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

Frazier was drafted by the Magic with the No. 35 pick out of Tulane in the 2018 NBA draft, but appeared in just 29 games across two seasons with Orlando, averaging 5.9 MPG.

In two seasons with the Magic’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, Frazier played 41 games (all starts), averaging a solid slash line of 15.5 PPG/5.8 APG/1.9 SPG/1.9 APG, while shooting 48.7% from the field. The club declined his $1.66MM player option for 2020/21 earlier in this offseason.

Oklahoma City had just added Cleveland to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract to join the club’s training camp roster. Cleveland was a two-way player for the Mavericks for the 2019/20 season, and saw limited NBA action in 11 games with Dallas.

In 36 games for the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, Cleveland averaged 14.4 PPG, 7.3 RPG, and 1.6 SPG. After going undrafted out of Southeast Missouri State in 2017, Cleveland split the 2017/18 season between the Hawks and Mavericks. He spent the 2018/19 season with Golden State’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors.

The Thunder are among the teams that figure to turn over their back-end roster spots in the coming days and weeks with an aim toward securing players’ G League rights and/or ensuring that they receive $50K bonuses if they play in the G League.

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