- The Thunder shocked the NBA when they managed to trade for Paul George earlier this summer. It’s already easy to see the swingman’s impact on the franchise. Erik Horne of the Oklahoman details how George can help the team’s offense, defense and even second unit.
- The decision to sign Ronnie Price to a two-year deal last summer has come back to haunt the Thunder. Fred Katz of the Norman Transcript has broken down the significant luxury tax impact the since-waived guard will have in 2017/18.
The Cavaliers nearly landed Paul George in a three-team deal in late June, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst.
The trade would have sent Kevin Love to Denver and Gary Harris and other assets to Indiana, but Pacers president Kevin Pritchard reportedly backed out before everything was finalized.
Prior to the draft, Cleveland made trade offers to the Pacers for George and to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler. Once the Wolves acquired Butler on draft night, the Cavs stepped up their efforts for George, with the Nuggets agreeing to send Harris and the No. 13 pick to Cleveland, which would include those assets in a deal with Indiana. However, the Pacers put the trade on hold as they talked to the Trail Blazers about a deal to acquire all three of Portland’s first-rounders in exchange for George. Both proposals eventually fell through.
The Cavs continued to work on the trade following the draft, and an agreement was reached on June 30th. All three teams tentatively okayed to the deal on a conference call, and Cleveland began targeting free agents to fit with George. However, Pritchard changed his mind and the news broke soon after that George was headed to Oklahoma City.
The failed trade was part of a tumultuous offseason for the Cavaliers, as the ESPN authors examine in a lengthy piece. Cleveland also parted ways with GM David Griffin and was unable to land Chauncey Billups, who interviewed twice as a potential replacement. The team missed out on marquee free agents and had to settle for Jose Calderon and Jeff Green. Then star guard Kyrie Irving held a meeting with owner Dan Gilbert on July 7th where he issued a request to be traded.
Irving was reportedly angry that his name had been included in offers for Butler and George, and has been unhappy for some time with how much James dominates the ball. He also believes the team defers too much to James, noting that LeBron’s friend, Randy Mims, was given a position as executive administrator and flies on the team plane, while none of Irving’s friends has a similar arrangement.
The front office and the players have been aware of Irving’s intentions for two weeks, and there is confidence in the organization that the team can get enough assets for Irving to remain a contender. The Cavs have been inundated with calls from interested teams since the story broke on Friday.
Russell Westbrook can sign a supermax Designated Veteran Player Exception deal with the Thunder worth over $235MM over six years, which would make him the highest paid player in NBA history. However, money is not the determining factor over Westbrook’s future, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman writes.
For starters, uncertainty surrounding the Thunder’s roster in future seasons makes Westbrook signing a longterm contract uncertain — despite the Thunder being optimistic it will get done. As Horne explains, Westbrook does not have the option to sign another shorter-term pact like he did last year, signing a three-year, $85.7MM extension. As Horne mentions, under the new collective bargaining agreement, Westbrook cannot extend his current deal unless it’s a five-year max: meaning it’s max or nothing.
The reigning Most Valuable Player has set himself up to be paid handsomely — whether it is this offseason or next, when he can hit free agency and pursue other options. Westbrook will earn $28.5MM in 2017/18 but that could prove to be chump change if and when he signs a longterm max deal.
Below are additional notes surrounding the Northwest Division:
- In separate piece for The Oklahoman, Horne suggests that Kyle Singler may be an optimal candidate for the stretch provision. The 29-year-old has averaged less than four points per game in Oklahoma City in two seasons and is owed $9.66MM over the next two seasons. To save cap space, the stretch provision could stretch out Singler’s salary over seven seasons and open up a roster spot for the Thunder, Horne notes.
- Once again for the Oklahoman, Horne answers four key questions surrounding the Thunder. Among the burning questions include when 2017 draft pick Terrance Ferguson will sign, if and when the Thunder hires a new assistant coach, if any additional moves will be made, and Westbrook’s aforementioned contract dilemma.
- Newest member of the Timberwolves, Jamal Crawford, pursued a deal with an up-and-coming contender rather than a perennial championship contender. The 37-year-old briefly spoke to the Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda about his decision to sign with Minnesota, stating that it “made sense on every level.”
- Michael Rand of the Star Tribune looks at five potential free agent signings for Minnesota. On the list are three players who have connections to head coach Tom Thibodeau (C.J. Watson, Mike Dunleavy, and Tony Allen) and two productive veterans (Anthony Morrow and Andrew Bogut).
- Justin Zanik and David Morway are joining the Jazz as high-ranking front office executives, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Ryan McDonald of Deseret News breaks down the move and provides information on both men and their ties to Utah.
JULY 22: The Thunder have made the signing of Johnson official via a press release.
JULY 20: The Thunder have signed Dakari Johnson to a two-year deal, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Charania adds that Johnson’s salary will be guaranteed.
Johnson has played for the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G-League affiliate, in each of the past two seasons. During the 2016/17 campaign, he averaged 18.5 points and 7.9 rebounds while shooting 55.6% from the field.
The center spent two seasons in the collegiate ranks at the University of Kentucky where he saw just 15.2 minutes per contest. He entered the 2015 draft and was selected by the Thunder with the No. 48 overall pick.
The Thunder have agreed to a deal with 23-year-old international center Yannis Morin, Erik Horne of the Oklahoman writes, confirming a report previously relayed by Sportando.
The French big man played with Oklahoma City’s summer league team and will join the franchise for training camp on a non-guaranteed deal. In five games in the Orlando league, he averaged 2.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for OKC.
Morin has previously played in France’s Pro A and Pro B leagues.
JULY 21st, 2:40pm: The signing is official, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe tweets.
JULY 14th, 11:31am: The Thunder and Nick Collison have reached an agreement on a one-year contract, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). According to Charania, the one-year deal will “end” Collison’s long NBA career with the franchise, so it sounds like he’ll retire at the end of the 2017/18 season.
Collison, who will turn 37 in October, has appeared in 895 total regular season games for Seattle and Oklahoma City, but has an extremely limited role at this stage of his career. In 2016/17, he played just 128 total minutes in 20 games for the Thunder, averaging 1.7 PPG and 1.6 RPG. In what figures to be his final season, he’ll serve more as a veteran mentor on the bench than as a key on-court contributor for the club.
While terms of the deal weren’t reported, the Thunder have used their taxpayer mid-level exception, and won’t use their bi-annual exception to avoid becoming hard-capped. So Collison will be in line for a one-year, minimum salary contract.
That deal will pay Collison about $2.329MM, but will only count for $1.471MM for OKC’s team salary and tax purposes. Our story on this year’s minimum salaries explains the details on those numbers.
The arrival of Paul George has signaled a renewed intrigue around the Thunder organization. Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook once again has a superstar partner as Oklahoma City chases an NBA title. The vacancy left by Kevin Durant has been filled temporarily but George teased being a permanent staple for the club.
As Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman writes, George spoke at his introductory presser about the possibility of remaining with the Thunder beyond the 2017/18 campaign if his first season goes smoothly.
“I could come here and love it, as I have been loving it here,” George said. “Both myself and Russell, if we love where we’re at and we feel we can do something special here, I’m open to it.”
George and his new teammate Westbrook could both hit free agency next season. The California native George is expected to pursue joining the Lakers at some point — despite claiming his interest is overstated — and the former UCLA product Westbrook could follow him there. However, George teasing another dynamic duo in Oklahoma City less than two years after Durant left the city for greener pastures may be a cruel tease of what may never occur.
Below are additional notes surrounding the Thunder:
- While it was clear that George was on the trading block, he was surprised to see himself land with the Thunder, ESPN’s Royce Young writes. While team’s such as the Cavaliers, Rockets, Lakers, and others were mentioned as possible destinations, George noted that joining Westbrook made the trade worthwhile.
- In other George news, Young, in a separate piece for ESPN, and Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated, both wrote up compelling features on George’s first day in Oklahoma City.
- After signing a three-year, $30MM with the Thunder, Andre Roberson is happy to be back with the team. While he possibly missed out on more money by signing an offer sheet elsewhere as a restricted free agent, Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman writes that Roberson realizes sacrifice comes with being in a special place.
- The Thunder and Semaj Christon have agreed to move 2014 second round pick’s guarantee date back to the end of training camp, per Fred Katz of The Norman Transcript (via Twitter).
JULY 14: The Thunder have officially re-signed Robinson, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 5: The Thunder and Andre Roberson have agreed on a three-year, $30MM deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). The scribe adds that Roberson preferred the three-year deal over a four-year contract.
The move will put the Thunder at roughly $125.1MM in team salary, ESPN’s Bobby Marks adds (ESPN Now link). Oklahoma City sits at $5.8MM over the luxury tax line, which will give the franchise a projected tax bill of approximately $8.9MM. The organization will have the entire 2017/18 to shed salary if it wants to avoid paying the tax.
Roberson has developed into one of the league’s better perimeter defenders during his four years with OKC. He was the best defender among all shooting guards last season, according to ESPN’s Real Defensive Plus/Minus, and he added the fifth-most value on the defensive end among all non-bigs, according to NBAMath.com.
Of course, as impressive as Roberson was on defense, he had virtually the opposite impact on the other end of the court, making just 24.5% of his three-pointers and 42.3% of his free throws in 2016/17. He also missed 18 of 21 free throws in the postseason. At age 25, Roberson still has room to develop, but it will be a challenge for the Thunder to turn him into a positive asset on the offensive side of the ball.
In addition to bringing back Roberson, the Thunder have also agreed to sign Patrick Patterson and will send Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to Indiana in exchange for Paul George after the July moratorium ends.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- Thunder GM Sam Presti acknowledged that extension discussions with Russell Westbrook aren’t really “a negotiation,” since a maximum salary offer is on the table for the reigning MVP. Erik Horne and Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman have the details on the story, suggesting that Oklahoma City won’t pressure Westbrook, who may accept the offer on his own timeline.
After several weeks of trade rumors that linked him to a wide variety of teams, Paul George was ultimately sent to a suitor that had barely been mentioned, with the Pacers trading him to the Oklahoma City. Speaking to Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated, George discussed his new team and dismissed the idea that he’s a lock to eventually become a Laker.
“I grew up a Lakers and a Clippers fan,” George said. “I idolized Kobe [Bryant]. There will always be a tie here, a connection here. People saying I want to come here, who doesn’t want to play for their hometown? That’s a dream come true, if you’re a kid growing up on the outskirts of L.A., to be the man in your city. But it’s definitely been overstated.
“For me, it’s all about winning,” George continued. “I want to be in a good system, a good team. I want a shot to win it. I’m not a stats guy. I’m playing this game to win and build a legacy of winning. I’ve yet to do that. I’m searching for it. If we get a killer season in Oklahoma, we make the conference finals or upset the Warriors or do something crazy, I’d be dumb to want to leave that.”
While we shouldn’t pencil in a long-term deal for George and the Thunder quite yet, his comments suggest it’s not a foregone conclusion that he’ll jump ship at season’s end. The star forward also sounds positive about Oklahoma City, having received an endorsement of the city and the organization from a somewhat unlikely source: a fellow All-Star who decided to leave OKC a year ago, Kevin Durant.
“KD was like, ‘That place will blow you away,'” George said. “He told me, ‘They can offer what other teams can’t in terms of the people and the preparation and the facility, down to the chefs and the meals.’ He was pretty high on them. He thought it was a first-class organization in every way.”
George will be eligible to hit the unrestricted free agent market in the summer of 2018, at which point the Lakers are expected to have room for at least one maximum contract, while the Thunder will hold George’s Bird rights and will have the ability to offer him more years and dollars than any other team.