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Thunder Notes: Bench, Dort, Murray, Closing Out, Lottery

May 12th, 2025 at 8:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Thunder’s deep bench shined through in Game 4 on Sunday as they tied the series with the Nuggets with a 92-87 victory. Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins had 11 points apiece and Alex Caruso supplied 10. The five reserves that coach Mark Daigneault utilized also combined for 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Denver used three subs and only one — Russell Westbrook — played extended minutes. He shot 2-for-12 from the field.

“It’s never, like, ‘I wonder what we should do now,’” Daigneault said, per Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. “It’s always frameworks that we work through during the seasons. We have a pretty good understanding of frameworks of lineups, frameworks of rotations, different levers we can pull. We’re not just throwing stuff against the wall in the highest stakes games.”

We have more on the Thunder:

  • Luguentz Dort had a rough outing, shooting 2-for-10 from the field, all beyond the 3-point arc. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Dort has struggled with his shooting in road playoff games, Lorenzi notes, but the head coach isn’t fretting. “I definitely trust the body of work over time more than small sample sizes,” Daigneault said. “If the question is whether or not I’m confident in his 3-point shooting, I am. He’s the last guy I’m worried about. We also have a deep team.”
  • Dort, of course, is more noted for his defensive work. The Nuggets have tried to use hard screens to dislodge him from guard Jamal Murray. “It’s been like that all year; it’s not just Denver,” Dort told The Athletic’s Kelly Iko. “I know I’m a good defender and disturb a lot of (opposing teams’) main guys. Whenever I’m off their main guy’s body, it’s good for them.”
  • They lost by two points in the series opener and overtime in Game 3. Pulling out a five-point win in Game 4 shows that they’re getting better at closing out tight contests in the postseason. “Every time you take punches and you get back up, you get stronger,” Daigneault said, according to ESPN News Services. “That’s what we’re preaching to our team. We lost a tough one the other night in overtime. We stood back up (Sunday).”
  • Thanks to Philadelphia’s lottery luck, moving up to the top three, the Thunder won’t have a lottery pick. The pick the Sixers owe them will be top-4 protected next year.
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Thunder Notes: Records, Wiggins, Caruso, SGA, Hartenstein, Presti

April 3rd, 2025 at 10:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder won’t be able to match the 73-win record set by the 2015/16 Warriors, but they’re putting the finishing touches on one of the best regular seasons in NBA history, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

As Slater details, the Thunder’s point differential of +13.4 points per game would be an NBA record. They still have a shot at setting a new single-season record for net rating as well — their +13.2 mark is just shy of the +13.4 record set by the 1995/96 Bulls. Oklahoma City also established a new high-water mark for the best cross-conference record in league history by going 29-1 against Eastern Conference opponents and has tied the NBA record for most double-digit wins in a season (50).

Even though they’ve long since clinched the top seed in the Western Conference and have started to get their key players some rest, the Thunder continue to roll — they haven’t lost since March 10 and a 70-win season remains in play with six games left on their schedule. Still, as Slater details, Oklahoma City’s players appear unimpressed by their regular season accomplishments, stressing that a title is the only thing that matters to them.

“We don’t care not one bit about any of those records,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said this week. “They mean something, but in the grand scheme, they don’t. We’re after one thing and one thing only. That’s what’s on our mind. Everything else we don’t care about.”

“It’s cool,” Jalen Williams added. “That stat stuff is more for y’all than it is for us. That’s my only answer. Sorry.”

Here’s more out of OKC:

  • Aaron Wiggins, who has missed the past five games with left Achilles tendinitis, isn’t on the injury report for Friday’s game in Houston and should be available to make his return, tweets Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. Alex Caruso also isn’t on the injury report after sitting out Wednesday’s win over Detroit due to left ankle soreness.
  • In addition to being knocked out of last year’s NBA playoffs in the second round, Gilgeous-Alexander suffered an early exit at the Paris Olympics with Team Canada. Sam Amick of The Athletic takes a closer look at how those two tough losses are driving the MVP frontrunner — and how they remind him not to take any opportunities for granted. “Like (Thunder head) coach (Mark Daigneault) said a couple weeks ago, this group that we have today could be the best group of players I ever play with,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “You think, ‘Oh, we’re all 25 or under, so we have a whole runway in front of us.’ But you never know what happens.”
  • In a wide-ranging interview with Rylan Stiles of SI.com, big man Isaiah Hartenstein explained why the Thunder’s culture helped convince him to sign with Oklahoma City last year, expressed respect for general manager Sam Presti, and shared his impressions of playing alongside fellow big man Chet Holmgren.
  • Presti is clearly the NBA’s Executive of the Year and deserves to be honored with that award this spring, Stiles argues in a separate SI.com story. In Stiles’ view, Presti has built the deepest roster in the NBA, with last offseason’s signing of Hartenstein and trade for Caruso making this season’s version of the Thunder even more formidable than last year’s team.
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Eighteen More Players Become Trade-Eligible

January 15th, 2025 at 7:00am CST by Luke Adams

Today is Wednesday, January 15, which means that a total of 18 players who signed free agent contracts meeting specific criteria this past offseason are now eligible to be traded.

Most offseason signees became trade-eligible on December 15, but players who met the following criteria were ineligible to be moved for an extra month:

  1. The player re-signed with his previous team.
  2. He got a raise of at least 20%.
  3. His salary is above the minimum.
  4. His team was over the cap and used Bird or Early Bird rights to sign him.

The following players met that criteria and are eligible to be traded as of Wednesday:

Most of the players on NBA rosters are now eligible to be moved, though a small handful still can’t be dealt.

That group includes Kings forward Doug McDermott, who becomes trade-eligible on Thursday, Celtics sharpshooter Sam Hauser (trade-eligible on January 23), Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard (Jan. 26), Grizzlies big man Jay Huff (Jan. 28), Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (Feb. 2), and Knicks center Ariel Hukporti (Feb. 5).

Additionally, there are several players who won’t become trade-eligible at all prior to this season’s February 6 deadline, including stars like Joel Embiid, Lauri Markkanen, and Jamal Murray.

Players on 10-day contracts are also ineligible to be dealt.

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Northwest Notes: Malone, Nuggets, Wiggins, Thunder

September 5th, 2024 at 9:57pm CST by Tristan Tucker

After a similar report surfaced in August from another outlet, Zach Lowe of ESPN said on his podcast this week (hat tip to RealGM) that there are “rumblings” that Michael Malone and the Nuggets front office aren’t seeing eye to eye “to a degree even unusual for the NBA.”

This offseason, the Nuggets lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to free agency one year after losing key role players in Jeff Green and Bruce Brown. General manager Calvin Booth has targeted young players to develop to try and offset the losses of these veterans, but they haven’t been one-to-one replacements.

As noted by RealGM, Booth’s contract expires after the 2024/25 season while Malone’s runs through ’26/27. It’s not exactly clear to what degree Malone and the front office aren’t clicking, but Denver took a step back after winning the title in 2023 and doesn’t have a clear replacement for what Caldwell-Pope brought to the table as one of the premier 3-and-D role-players in the league.

For what it’s worth, Booth didn’t exactly put any rumors to rest with his comments in May.

“We’ve talked about this a lot upstairs,” Booth said in May. “The general manager, front office job oftentimes is to make sure the long-term view is something that we’re satisfied with. And Coach Malone’s down there in the trenches trying to win every night. And a lot of times, those things are aligned, but sometimes they ebb and flow away from each other.”

We have more from the Northwest Division:

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And-Ones: Dragic, Petrovic, Wiggins, King

August 25th, 2024 at 5:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

In Marc Stein’s latest Substack post, he details Goran Dragic‘s retirement party and charity contest in Slovenia. Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Chris Bosh, Kevin McHale, Nikola Jokic, Robin Lopez and Boban Marjanovic were among the former and current players who made the long excursion to participate in the festivities. The longtime NBA guard announced his retirement on New Year’s Eve.

We have more from around the international basketball world:

  • Current NBA players Bojan Bogdanovic and Dario Saric will participate in a game next month to remember former NBA star Drazen Petrovic, who died in a car accident in 1993. The game will be held in Zagreb on September 5, Sportando relays via a Eurohoops report. The event will be organized by Aleksandar Petrovic, the brother of the former NBA player. Drazen Petrovic averaged 15.4 points in 290 NBA games while playing for the Trail Blazers and Nets.
  • Aaron Wiggins, Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Nesmith head up the list of players on team-friendly contracts for their respective clubs, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report opines. Wiggins tops the list as a rotation player for the Thunder on a five-year, $45MM deal that includes an additional $2MM in unlikely incentives. His salary also declines year-to-year, including a team option at $8MM for the 2028/29 season.
  • Forward Louis King is the latest player to commit to G League United for the Fall Invitational that will take place next month, according to the G League’s Twitter feed. King played for the South Bay Lakers and had a stint in Puerto Rico after the NBA Lakers waived him last October.
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Western Notes: Morant, Klay, Wiggins, Barnes, Avdija

July 9th, 2024 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been cleared for all basketball activities, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Morant, who missed the first 25 games of the 2023/24 season due to a suspension, returned to action in December and immediately provided a spark for the Grizzlies, who won six of nine games with the star point guard in the lineup. However, a labral tear in Morant’s right shoulder ended his season after those nine games. He has been recovering from surgery in the months since then.

The Grizzlies were one of the NBA’s most injury-plagued teams in ’23/24, but head coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters back in April that only Morant projected to have a recovery timeline extending well into the offseason. With a fully healthy roster, there’s optimism in Memphis that the club can bounce back from a 27-55 year and look more like the club that went 107-57 over the previous two regular seasons.

We have more from around the Western Conference:

  • Referring to his deal with the Mavericks as a “fresh start,” Klay Thompson told reporters on Tuesday that he’s optimistic about “kind of being rejuvenated” in Dallas, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN details. “Feeling just wanted again, like I bring great value, it just gets me excited to go out there and even work out after this press conference and get shots up,” Thompson said. “Yeah, there was times last year where it was tough, where it wasn’t as joyful as it was in the past. It’s nice to kind of shed that and have a whole new fresh start, whole new group of guys to get to know, co-workers, whole new city. It’s really cool, and I’m going to embrace the heck out of this opportunity.” In a story for The Athletic, Tim Cato takes a look at how Thompson will fit in on the Mavs’ roster.
  • Aaron Wiggins‘ new five-year contract with the Thunder is worth $45MM, with $2MM in bonuses that could push it up to the initially reported total of $47MM, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). The deal has a descending structure and includes a fifth-year team option, Scotto adds.
  • New Spurs forward Harrison Barnes confirmed on Tuesday that he waived his $3.7MM trade kicker to facilitate his move to San Antonio, calling it a “pretty easy decision” and adding that he’s excited about playing for head coach Gregg Popovich, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN.
  • New Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija admitted on Monday that he was surprised to be traded by the Wizards, according to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Substack link). “I think they really love me,” Avdija said of his old team. “I’ve done a lot for that organization. It was just not the timeline, I guess.” Now that he has gotten past that initial surprise, the 23-year-old is “excited” about the new opportunity in front of him. “They’ve welcomed me very well, so it’s a good start,” he said. “I’m glad to be in a place where people embrace me and love me. I’m going to bring my competitiveness, and we’re going to have a lot of fun.”
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Aaron Wiggins Signs Five-Year Deal With Thunder

July 1st, 2024 at 8:21am CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 7: Wiggins has officially signed the contract, Joel Lorenzi of Oklahoma Sports tweets.

JULY 1: Aaron Wiggins will return to the Thunder on a five-year, $47MM contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The 25-year-old shooting guard became a restricted free agent on Saturday after Oklahoma City declined his $1.989MM option for next season and tendered him a qualifying offer.

That move was a prelude to a long-term deal. Wiggins has become a valuable rotation member during his three years with the team, and the Thunder wanted to lock him down for the future.

The No. 39 player on our list of this summer’s top 50 free agents, Wiggins appeared in 78 games last season, making four starts and averaging 6.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 15.7 minutes per night. He also posted .562/.492/.789 shooting splits as OKC tied for the best record in the West at 57-25.

Wiggins was selected with the 55th pick in the 2021 draft after three seasons at Maryland. He turned out to be a bargain on his original four-year, $6.4MM deal, so the team decided to reward him and make sure he’s part of what appears to be a very bright future in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City also agreed to re-sign Isaiah Joe to a long-term deal after declining his option on Saturday. The Thunder will be able to keep both Wiggins’ and Joe’s modest cap holds on their books while using up their cap room, then go over the cap to re-sign them.

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Thunder Declining 2024/25 Options On Joe, Wiggins

June 29th, 2024 at 3:30pm CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder won’t exercise their team options for 2024/25 on wings Isaiah Joe or Aaron Wiggins, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Both options were for very team-friendly rates — Joe’s was worth $2.165MM, while Wiggins’ was for $1.989MM. On the surface, it looks like a surprise that Oklahoma City is turning them down, given that the two players were solid rotation pieces in 2023/24.

However, as Charania notes, the Thunder don’t intend to let either player get away and will work on longer-term deals with both of them.

The thinking is that the Thunder will be able to keep Joe’s and Wiggins’ very small cap holds on the books, use up all of their cap room on other moves, then go over the cap to re-sign the two players to multiyear contracts using their Bird rights (or, in Joe’s case, Early Bird rights).

Joe and Wiggins will be rewarded with raises for the 2024/25 season and may in turn give the Thunder a better long-term rate than they would have if they became free agents a year from now (though that’s not a certainty).

Wiggins can be made a restricted free agent with a qualifying offer, and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) confirms he has received that offer (worth about $2.4MM). However, Joe has too many years of service to be an RFA, so I’d imagine the Thunder have a pretty good idea of what it will take to re-sign him.

Joe has spent the past two seasons in Oklahoma City after being waived by the Sixers. During that time, he has been one of the team’s most reliable shooters off the bench, averaging 8.8 points per game with a .412 3PT% in 151 outings (11 starts; 18.8 MPG).

Wiggins, the 55th overall pick in the 2021 draft, has been with the Thunder for three seasons, averaging 7.3 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 1.2 APG in 198 games (53 starts; 18.9 MPG) during that time. His career shooting line is an impressive .514/.394/.780.

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Thunder Notes: Hartenstein, Claxton, Collins, Joe, Wiggins, Giddey, Williams

June 16th, 2024 at 10:32am CST by Arthur Hill

Following a breakthrough year in which they earned the top seed in the West, the Thunder are in position to address their most glaring need by adding another big man in free agency, writes Keith Smith of Spotrac. Oklahoma City can clear roughly $35MM in cap space, mostly by renouncing the rights to free agent forward Gordon Hayward.

Smith points to Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein and Nets center Nic Claxton as two ideal targets. Hartenstein can contribute on both ends of the court, and he may be easier to obtain because New York is limited in what it can offer. With Early Bird rights on Hartenstein, the Knicks can give him roughly $72.5MM over four years, a figure that OKC can easily top. Claxton would add a shot-blocking element to the team’s already-strong defense, but he’s limited offensively and Brooklyn may be willing to pay whatever it takes to keep him.

Smith lists a few other options if the Thunder decide to pursue a forward rather than a center, such as Pascal Siakam, Patrick Williams, OG Anunoby and Paul George.

If general manager Sam Presti prefers a trade, Smith suggests Jazz big man John Collins, who will make $26.6MM in each of the next two seasons and can be acquired via cap space with about $8.5MM left over. Smith notes that Collins’ contract will expire before OKC has to start handing out extensions to its young players.

There’s more from Oklahoma City:

  • The Thunder will likely pick up their $2.2MM option on Isaiah Joe for next season with an eye toward a possible extension, Smith adds in the same piece. Smith also expects the team to keep Aaron Wiggins, either by exercising its $2MM team option and trying to sign him to an extension or turning down the option and hoping to reach a new deal with him as a restricted free agent. Smith sees Lindy Waters III on the “roster bubble,” while the team’s other free agents likely won’t return.
  • There’s a growing perception that Josh Giddey will be traded this summer, but Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman contends the Australian swingman’s struggles were exaggerated. Even though Giddey was benched in the playoffs and saw his minutes reduced during the regular season, Mussatto notes that he has improved his three-point shooting, having gone from 26.3% as a rookie to 33.7% this season. Mussatto also cautions that it might be too early to make a long-term decision on Giddey, who has another year left on his rookie contract and won’t turn 22 until October.
  • Chet Holmgren‘s return from injury cut into Jaylin Williams‘ playing time, but Williams still showed he can be an effective big man in the Thunder’s system, Mussatto adds in a separate story.
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Thunder Notes: New Arena, Wiggins, Biggest Need

May 21st, 2024 at 10:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Thunder took a major step toward the construction of a new arena. The Oklahoma City city council approved a development agreement with team ownership for a new downtown arena on Tuesday, Jessie Christoper Smith of The Oklahoman reports.

Oklahoma City voters previously overwhelmingly approved a 72-month, one-cent sales tax to fund construction of a new arena at a $900MM minimum cost.

Per the new agreement, the city would first invest $78MM originally meant to be spent on improving the current Paycom Center. Then, the city would spend $50MM contributed by the Thunder ownership, before using a minimum of $772MM via the sales tax.

The city will work with the team on an earlier target schedule, outlining a possible completion of the arena as early as June 2028. City officials often have said they hope to complete the arena ahead of the 2029/2030 season. Thunder ownership can terminate the agreement if the city does not meet the 2030 deadline.

We have more on the Thunder:

  • They have an interesting decision to make involving Aaron Wiggins, who has become a valuable rotation piece. They hold a $1.99MM option on his contract for next season but they could choose to decline Wiggins’ team option in order to make him a restricted free agent. Then, they could sign him to a long-term pact, Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated notes, similar to the way they locked up Luguentz Dort.
  • With some key players still on rookie contracts, the Thunder have the opportunity to use their assets and find one more impact player, John Hollinger of The Athletic opines. The postseason showed that their most glaring is a secondary play-maker with size, though identifying and acquiring the right player to fill that void will be difficult.
  • In case you missed it, Gordon Hayward was unhappy over his lack of playing time in the postseason.
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