- The Thunder and Magic are both believed to be keeping an eye on the market for a scoring threat, per Kyler. Kings forward Rudy Gay is a player to watch, as many league insiders still believe he’s the most likely player to be dealt by the deadline, even if it doesn’t happen until February.
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Here are the D-League assignments and recalls for Sunday:
- The Spurs assigned guard Bryn Forbes to the Austin Spurs, the team announced on its website. Forbes scored 23 points against the Westchester Knicks on Sunday afternoon.
- The Thunder recalled forward Josh Huestis from the Oklahoma City Blue, the team announced in a press release. In nine games with the Blue this season, Huestis is averaging 12.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 2.11 blocks in 31.7 minutes. Huestis has appeared in five games with the Thunder, averaging 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11.0 minutes.
The Thunder are nearly ready to bring back Cameron Payne from a fractured foot, tweets Chris Haynes of ESPN. Haynes mentions December 29th in Memphis as a possible season debut for the second-year point guard. Payne suffered the injury to the fifth metatarsal on his right foot early in training camp. He had Jones fracture surgery on the foot in July, but opted to let it heal on its own this time. Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said there is still no set date for Payne to return. “Part of the reason I haven’t given a timetable is because they can’t give me a timetable,” Donovan said of the team’s medical staff. “And to be honest with you, I don’t really ask them a lot of that stuff. I trust what’s going on. They give me an update of how guys are progressing and where they’re at, what they’re doing. I try to be supportive of the player, try to spend time with the player.” Payne averaged 5.0 points and 1.9 assists in 57 games during his rookie season.
- Russell Westbrook is ESPN’s Marc Stein’s choice as Most Valuable Player in the Western Conference. Westbrook has taken on an expanded role in the wake of Kevin Durant‘s departure for Golden State and is averaging a triple double per night through the first third of the season. He leads the league in scoring at 30.4 points per game to go along with 11.0 assists and 10.5 rebounds. Westbrook’s stellar play has helped the Thunder remain playoff contenders, just one game back of Utah in the Northwest standings.
- The Thunder’s only plan regarding Victor Oladipo‘s injury is to re-evaluate him every day, according to Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman. Oladipo hasn’t played since suffering a wrist sprain Sunday, and no timetable has been set for his return. “I think a lot of times people want to know when he’s gonna be back, and to be honest with you, we don’t know,” said coach Billy Donovan. “I’m not saying he’s gonna be out for months. I’m not saying weeks or days. But I think what happens is, if you say, ‘He’s gonna be back this day’ and he’s not, people start to draw conclusions.”
- Russell Westbrook has been on a tear for the majority of the 2016/17 campaign thus far – including a streak of seven consecutive triple-doubles – but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have down days. Sam Amick details the Thunder point guard’s recent “rare and revealing struggles” for USA Today.
The Thunder, Pacers, and Rockets are among the teams that have expressed interest in trading for Rudy Gay, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, who weighed in on Gay during a podcast with Bobby Marks.
Within a discussion on trade candidates and possibilities, Wojnarowski suggested that the Kings are “going to have to move” Gay before the 2017 deadline, comparing the situation to Ryan Anderson‘s in New Orleans a year ago. Anderson made it clear that he wouldn’t be re-signing with the Pelicans, but the team kept him anyway, and ultimately lost him for nothing — Sacramento can’t afford to do the same thing with Gay, in Wojnarowski’s view.
According to Wojnarowski, the Thunder had fairly serious talks with the Kings about Gay earlier in the year, and “maybe got pretty close to something” involving Cameron Payne. However, Payne suffered a major foot injury in early October, derailing – or at least postponing – those talks. The Pacers have also shown interest in Gay, while Wojnarowski classifies the Rockets’ interest as “periphery,” which makes it sound as if they’re monitoring the situation but perhaps haven’t actively pursued the veteran forward.
The odds of a Gay deal happening before the deadline seem good, and as of Thursday, more than 120 players around the NBA will become trade-eligible, leading to more discussions. Still, nothing is imminent at this point, and the veteran forward will have to get healthy first. He’s listed as out for tonight’s game due to a right hip flexor strain.
Not every NBA team has a D-League affiliate, and the 22 teams that do have their own NBADL squads use those affiliates in a variety of ways. Perhaps no NBA club has been more creative than the Thunder when it comes to making use of the D-League, writes Chris Reichert of The Step Back. As Reichert details, Oklahoma City has made a habit out using second-round picks – or even late first-round picks – to draft players who will be amenable to playing for the OKC Blue.
While those players accept modest salaries by agreeing to play on D-League contracts rather than overseas, the Thunder have shown that they’re willing to reward that loyalty down the road, with players like Josh Huestis and Semaj Christon now having earned spots on the team’s 15-man NBA roster. Dakari Johnson, the 48th overall pick in 2015, and Daniel Hamilton, this year’s No. 56 pick, are among the current OKC Blue players seeking an eventual call-up to the Thunder.
Al Horford considered signing with the Thunder during free agency this past summer in part because of his relationship with Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan, who coached Horford at Florida, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com relays (ESPN Now link). Horford instead signed a four-year deal with the Celtics. Horford added that his decision may have been impacted by the uncertainty around Kevin Durant‘s future at the time.
“I didn’t say this to anybody, but I was strongly considering [OKC] and just the possibilities of playing under coach again,” Horford said. “Those were realistic things, but at the end of the day I made my decision to be here with Boston.”
Here is more on the Thunder:
- Mavs owner Mark Cuban reaffirmed his belief that Russell Westbrook is not a superstar despite the guard averaging more than 30 points per game and a triple-double per game, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman relays. Cuban beleives a superstar needs to carry a team to 50 wins and a postseason series victory, per Horne.
- Donovan has used a small lineup at times featuring small forwards Jerami Grant at center and Andre Roberson at power forward, guard Anthony Morrow at small forward and a backcourt of Westbrook and Victor Oladipo that the coach beleives should help against teams that spread the floor, Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman writes. Donovan hasn’t used the lineup, which does not feature big men Steven Adams or Enes Kanter, much, but the team is on board with the idea of being more versatile, Dawson adds.
Here are Sunday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Thunder have assigned forward Josh Huestis to Oklahoma City Blue, according to a press release from the team. Huestis has appeared in four games with the Blue, averaging 9.3 points and 6.5 rebounds.
- The Spurs have recalled forward Davis Bertans from their Austin affiliate, the team announced on its website. Bertans has played two games in the D-League and 16 in San Antonio, where he is averaging 3.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per night.
- The Knicks have recalled power forward Maurice Ndour from their Westchester affiliate, tweets ESPN’s Ian Begley. Ndour had 12 points, six rebounds and four blocks for the D-League team Saturday night.
The Nets signed Donatas Motiejunas to an offer sheet on Friday and the timing of it was no accident, Marc Stein of ESPN.com writes. Brooklyn hopes that by waiting until after November 23 to sign Motiejunas, the Rockets will further consider not matching, as that was the last day they could have signed him and still been allowed to trade him this season. If Houston matches now, the big man can’t be traded for a full year without his consent.
Stein also notes that Brooklyn hired former longtime Rockets executive Gianluca Pascucci as its director of international scouting during the offseason and there’s likely a correlation between the hiring of Pascucci and the Nets offer to Motiejunas.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Luol Deng is struggling in his first season with the Lakers and the chatter about whether he fits in on Los Angeles’ young, promising team is expected to continue, Stein adds in the same piece. Deng signed a four-year, $72MM deal with the team in the offseason.
- Nikola Jokic will miss at least a week as he recovers from a sprained wrist, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post relays. “Talking to Nikola, he wants to play right when he can catch the ball,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I think we’ll probably be a little more cautious than that on this road trip, maybe get it looked at again just to kind of see where it’s at once the swelling goes down.”
- Jake Rauchbach of Basketball Insiders examines how Russell Westbrook and James Harden are producing eye-popping numbers on the Thunder and Rockets, respectively. Both players signed extensions with their respective teams this offseason.