The Thunder have made three cuts ahead of Monday’s regular season roster deadline, announcing that they’ve waived swingman David Nwaba, guard Trey Burke, and forward/center Marquese Chriss.
All three players were sent from Houston to Oklahoma City last month, but that trade was more about cutting costs for the Thunder than it was about the players involved. Oklahoma City also received Sterling Brown in that deal and waived him too, so none of the four players acquired from the Rockets are still under contract with the Thunder (Houston has also waived the four players it acquired in the trade).
Three cuts were required for the Thunder because they had been carrying 18 players on guaranteed contracts after signing Isaiah Joe earlier today.
The team will be on the hook for the 2022/23 salaries for Nwaba ($5,022,000), Burke ($3,423,750), and Chriss ($2,193,920), assuming they go unclaimed on waivers. However, none of the three are owed any guaranteed money beyond this season. Nwaba, Burke, and Chriss have been solid rotation players in the past, but none were particularly effective for Houston in 2021/22.
Nwaba averaged 5.1 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 46 games (13.2 MPG), while making just 30.6% of his three-point attempts; Burke put up 5.1 PPG and 1.4 APG in 42 games (10.5 MPG) and shot a career-low 31.7% on threes; Chriss averaged 4.5 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 34 appearances (10.2 MPG) and underwent knee surgery in June.
The Thunder now have 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals, so their roster is set for the regular season.
As for Joe, his new deal with the Thunder is a three-year, minimum-salary contract that is fully guaranteed for the first season and non-guaranteed in year two, with a third-year team option, Hoops Rumors has learned. Oklahoma City used a portion of its mid-level exception to complete the signing, which head coach Mark Daigneault expressed enthusiasm about in a Monday media session.
“He’s a guy that our scouts and our people have liked for some time,” Daigneault said, per Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (Twitter video link).
Is this the first time there was an 8-player trade where all 8 players were waived before the season started?
I think we all seen this coming.
Burke’s dead money is approx $3.55 million ($3.3 million + $247,500 trade bonus)
I believe the trade bonus applied half to last season’s cap hit and half to this season’s, since he was first traded in June.
Last time Chriss played for Warriors. He looked good. Then he got hurt. Was never back in a rotation. Showed me he can be in your top 10. Someone should give him a shot.
So the eight-player trade basically ends up being:
– Houston getting a 2026 2nd round pick
– Houston taking on about 8,5 million in salary, reducing cap space for other deals
– Houston receiving 7,5 million in cash, which eliminated the option to receive cash in a future deal
–> Does this eliminate the option of taking on Westbrook for Eric Gordon in a multi-team-trade?
– OKC losing a 2026 2nd round pick
– OKC creating cap space
– OKC getting two trade exceptions
– OKC losing the ability to send out money in trades
–> Seems like a super deal for OKC. They also are not likely to send out money in trades, as this is usually for a salary dump or to buy a pick.
Yeah okc gave up a likely worthless mid 50s pick to get under cap and create space and get two TE (which they’ll use to get more picks this year). In Presti we trust. (Side note if the thunder tank and snag pick #1…..it’s long shot odds but man is that team built for future playoff runs….until the contracts come due.)
I wonder if Houston regrets this trade now…