Oklahoma City Thunder Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Durant, Leonard, Rubio

December 19th, 2015 at 9:18pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kevin Durant admits that it’s a different era now with players changing teams so often, but he believes a winning a championship helps alleviate the desire to call another city home, as Royce Young of ESPN.com relays (Twitter link).

“There’s still some guys that stay with one team, but there are some guys that move,” Durant said. “Kobe [Bryant], he’s done it, Tim Duncan‘s done it. Just as far as staying with one organization when you win a title with them makes it easier to ride it out, and that’s what those guys have done. Dirk [Nowitzki], guys like that. It’s good to see a few player that’s on the out that had long careers that’s been with one team and still doing pretty well.”

Here’s more out of the Northwest:

Meyers Leonard reportedly turned down a “considerable” extension in November and there’s chatter around the league that the offer was of four years and $60MM, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com writes.
The season for Leonard hasn’t gone the way he anticipated, but despite his struggles, he still has the support of his team, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian writes. “I just want him to know that we’re in his corner,” Damian Lillard said of Leonard. “There’s no cracks in our confidence in what he can do for the team. Sometimes you need to hear it. It wasn’t a big deal. I just want him to know that I’m behind him and I believe in him. I always tell him that, that I believe in what he can do. It’s just a matter of him clearing his mind and doing it.”
Michael Rand of the Star Tribune isn’t optimistic that Ricky Rubio, who is shooting an icy 27.5% from behind the arc this season, will ever be an adequate shooter. Rubio signed a rookie scale extension in 2014, which went into effect this year. He’s slated to make $55MM over the next four seasons.

And-Ones: Durant, Kerr, Walton, J.R. Smith

December 17th, 2015 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Thunder had some concern when Kevin Durant hired Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports agency, but the team and Roc Nation have developed a “positive” and “constructive” working relationship, and those initial concerns have dissipated, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, citing sources. Oklahoma City will base its pitch to Durant in free agency this summer on the the youth of its roster, its track record of spending this season and last, its ability to keep spending and the presence of coach Billy Donovan, as Windhorst details. The Thunder have learned from the mistakes the Cavs made in 2010 as they unsuccessfully tried to keep LeBron James from departing a team that was aging and largely without financial flexibility, and the Oklahoma City organization doesn’t overreact to incremental developments or discouraging rumors, Windhorst explains. While we wait to find out just what happens when Durant hits free agency in six and a half months, see more from around the Association:

Warriors coach Steve Kerr hopes to return from his leave of absence within two to three weeks, he said Wednesday, according to Janie McCauley of The Associated Press. Kerr attended practice Monday and Tuesday and the team’s shootaround Wednesday, McCauley notes.
Interim coach Luke Walton figured there was no way Kerr would miss opening night and thought his leave, which began October 1st, would last only a couple of weeks, writes Lee Jenkins of SI.com in a piece that delves into Walton’s background to find explanation for why he’s been so successful with the Warriors this season.
The Cavs and Jazz have a general reputation as the teams that players least want to play for, J.R. Smith tells of Devin Friedman of GQ.com, admitting he was “petrified” to go to Cleveland when the Knicks traded him there in January. He’s warmed to what he calls an underestimated city since then, re-signing with the Cavs this summer and falling in line with the team’s all-business, no-party approach, as Friedman details. Smith also told Friedman he endures racial slurs from fans when he plays in Utah, joked about marijuana use, and called China, where he played in 2011/12 the “worst place I’ve ever been in my life.”

And-Ones: Howard, McCallum, Payne

December 16th, 2015 at 10:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Rockets expect that Dwight Howard will turn down his more than $23.282MM player option for next season, a source told USA Today’s Sam Amick. That’s no surprise, since the 30-year-old Dan Fegan client can lock in up to five more years of guaranteed salary with a new contract in free agency next summer, when his maximum salary is projected to come in at $29.3MM. Howard hasn’t expressed any desire that the Rockets trade him, sources told Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com, and in the interview with Amick, the center reiterated his public denial that he’s unhappy playing a secondary role to James Harden.

“People can say what they want about me and James and that whole situation, but I came here and the biggest reason was because of him, because I want both of us to grow and be great basketball players and be great teammates together,” Howard said to Amick.”It’s on us to do it. We are the ones who are held accountable for the good things and the bad things that happen to this team, and I came here with that mission, so that both of us can grow.“

The team still envisions Howard as a key part of its future and isn’t thinking about trading him, according to Amick. Here’s more from around the league:

The Thunder recalled Cameron Payne and Josh Huestis from their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Huestis has appeared in nine games for the Blue this season, averaging 10.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in 33.3 minutes per game, while Payne has made two D-League appearances, notching 23.5 points, 7.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.00 steals in 34.0 minutes per night.
The Jazz have recalled center Tibor Pleiss from the Idaho Stampede, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This was the first D-League assignment of the campaign for Pleiss, who has been with the Stampede since November 30th.
The Clippers assigned C.J. Wilcox to the D-League, the team announced via a press release. Since the team does not have its own affiliate, Wilcox will report to the Canton Charge, the Cavs‘ affiliate, as part of the flexible assignment system.
The Spurs have assigned point guard Ray McCallum to their D-League affiliate in Austin, the team announced. The will be second stint with Austin this season. He logged 12 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds during his first D-League trip of the campaign.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Grant, LaVine, D-League

December 15th, 2015 at 10:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak said during a live chat on Lakers.com (h/t to Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times) that the team has no immediate plans to make any trades. “The trade deadline’s not for a couple of months. We’ll sit and monitor our team — make calls, take calls, see where where we are a month from now,” Kupchak said. “If something comes up that we think will help us down the road, we’ll look at it.” Here’s more from around the league:

Knicks coach Derek Fisher doesn’t want rookie point guard Jerian Grant to take his first game not in the Knicks lineup to heart, and says that learning to deal with adversity will be good for the young player, Fred Kerber of The New York Post writes. “For your entire career there are going to be [these] ups and downs that can break you or make you,” Fisher said. “When the opportunity comes back around, you capitalize, and that shows a level of professionalism and sustainability that as a young player you have to develop. So there isn’t anything he’s doing wrong, it’s just night to night I’m going with what fits best.”
Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell wants to get Zach LaVine more minutes but he is finding it difficult because of the team’s depth at the position, Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune writes. “We have Kevin Martin, who has to play,” Mitchell said regarding the calls for LaVine to have an increased role. “We have Shabazz Muhammad, who has to play. And so, I understand when everybody is sitting there and tweeting and blogging about it. But come put my shoes on. It doesn’t work like that. We have a team. We have a cohesive locker room. And we have to keep it that way. Eventually, all this stuff gets worked out. Until it gets worked out, it’s my job to manage the minutes, manage the egos and keep everyone playing at as high a level as possible.”
The Thunder have assigned Josh Huestis and Cameron Payne to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Huestis’ sixth stint with the Blue on the season and Payne’s second.

2016/17 Salary Cap Projection: Thunder

December 15th, 2015 at 8:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 has been set at $70MM, which is an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. The last cap projection from the league prior to the official numbers being announced had been $67.1MM, and the projection for the tax line had been $81.6MM. Many league executives and agents believe that the salary cap will escalate to a whopping $95MM for 2016/17, a higher figure than the league’s last projection of $89MM. This significant bump is a result of the league’s new $24 billion TV deal that kicks in just in time for next season.

The increase in the salary cap will almost assuredly set off a flurry of activity in the free agent market next summer, and it will also make it easier than ever for teams to deal away their higher-priced stars. Prudent executives are acutely aware of exactly how much cap room they have to play with, not just for the current campaign, but for next season and beyond as well. While the exact amount of 2016/17’s salary cap won’t be announced until next summer, it always pays to know just how much salary is on the books for each franchise. With this in mind, we at Hoops Rumors will be breaking down the projected 2016/17 financial commitments for each franchise, and we’ll continue onward with a look at the Oklahoma City Thunder:

Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $65,906,301
Partially Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $0
Non Guaranteed Salary Commitments: $3,488,000
Total Projected Salary Cap Commitments: $69,394,301

If the salary cap were to fall in line with the projection of $89MM, Oklahoma City would have approximately $19,605,699 in cap space, or $25,605,699 if the cap were to be set at the higher mark of $95MM. Again, these are merely predictions until the exact cap amounts are announced, and they are not meant to illustrate the exact amount that the team will have available to spend this coming offseason.

Oklahoma City will also need to make a decision regarding Dion Waiters, who is eligible to become a restricted free agent next summer. If the Thunder wish to retain the right to match any offer sheet the player were to receive the team would need to submit a qualifying offer worth $6,777,589. That number would merely be a placeholder until Waiters either inked a new deal or signed his qualifying offer, which would then set him up for unrestricted free agency the following offseason.

Trades and long-term free agent signings made during the season will also have a significant impact on the figures above, and we’ll be updating these posts to reflect the new numbers after any signings and trades have been made official.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

And-Ones: Jennings, D-League, Knicks

December 14th, 2015 at 10:30pm CST by Will Joseph

Brandon Jennings, who has yet to play this season, is officially practicing with the Pistons, but it is still too early to know when he will appear in a game, Terry Foster of the Detroit News relays. Hoops Rumors’ Dana Gauruder recently profiled Jennings as a trade candidate because Jennings has an expiring contract at $8,344,497.

“We had one practice last week,” Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said, per Foster. “He got up and down and he brought good energy to the practice. We haven’t seen him in a week and when we do see him it is 15 minutes of action. It is really tough to gauge him in the little bit of time we see him. Right now it is once a week in short bursts.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

The Lakers recalled Tarik Black, Anthony Brown and Ryan Kelly from their D-League affiliate one day after assigning each player, the team announced (on Twitter).
Kristaps Porzingis insists he has not hit a “rookie wall” after 25 games with the Knicks, Fred Kerber of the New York Post relays. Porzingis, who was sensational before the Knicks’ recent road trip was held scoreless Saturday for the first time. “A couple of bad games, it happens to all of us. Not only rookies. I’m just looking forward to the next game,” Porzingis said, per Kerber. “So ups and downs, obviously this is my rookie season.”

Western Notes: Rondo, Jazz, Lawson, Thunder

December 14th, 2015 at 4:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Referee Bill Kennedy revealed that he is homosexual in an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, and Rajon Rondo is drawing fire for the homophobic slur he directed at Kennedy during a game on December 3rd. The NBA suspended Rondo for one game and doesn’t plan to mete out additional punishment, notes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter), but the apology that Rondo offered in a pair of tweets struck a hollow tone, observe Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck and SB Nation’s Tom Ziller (All Twitter links). Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and GM Vlade Divac condemned Rondo’s use of the slur in a statement that the team released, and Rondo’s words aren’t exactly the most auspicious prelude to his free agency in the summer ahead, opines Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). See more from the Western Conference:

The Jazz are expected to be active in exploring trades when dozens of players across the league become eligible to be traded Tuesday, reports Jody Genessy of The Deseret News (Twitter links). The most likely scenario involves the team absorbing salary via its cap space, Genessy adds. Utah is more than $7MM under the cap.
Ty Lawson‘s game has responded well to Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff‘s decision to bench him upon taking over for Kevin McHale, as Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com details. “He was trying to so hard to do the right things, I think he was frustrating himself and he got to the point where he said ‘I’m just going to play’ and I think that’s where he is now,” Bickerstaff said in part. The more and more he plays and he’s relaxed, the more that his true talent will shine through. We know what he is, we know what he’s capable of and we just got to get him there.”
The Thunder have assigned Mitch McGary to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. It’s the fourth time the former 21st overall pick has gone to the D-League this season and the third time in the past week.

Western Notes: Bass, Mavericks, Thunder

December 13th, 2015 at 12:55pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Brandon Bass, who signed a two year, $6MM deal with the Lakers this offseason, wanted to remain in Boston, but the Celtics immediately went after power forward Amir Johnson, who signed a two year, $24MM with the team, and left Bass to look elsewhere, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe writes.

“I would have never, ever thought I would not be in Boston,” Bass said. “I thought I was going to retire a Celtic, even when it was coming up to me signing with the Lakers. I just thought I’ll still be a Celtic. Boston was my home, man. I had a great experience, family loved the town. I loved the town, really got comfortable there. It feels surreal, but it’s definitely part of the business.”

Bass is averaging 5.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.5 blocks in 15.8 minutes per game off the bench for Los Angeles this season.

Here are a few notes from the Western Conference:

The Mavericks have recalled Salah Mejri from the Texas Legends, the team’s D-League affiliate, according to a team press release. Mejri is averaging 5.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in 20.9 minutes per game during his three games with the Legends this season.
The Thunder have recalled Josh Huestis and Mitch McGary from the team’s D-League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, per a team press release. Huestis averaged 11.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.38 blocks in 34.0 minutes per game for the Blue this season. McGary has averaged 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds in five games for the Blue this year.
Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman examines which players are more valuable to new coach Billy Donovan than they were to coach Scotty Brooks. Enes Kanter, who signed a four year, $70MM deal with OKC during the offseason, is among the players getting less minutes under Donovan.

And-Ones: ‘Outperformers,’ Bryant, Dinwiddie

December 12th, 2015 at 10:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

Four Western Conference players join Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis on an “Outperform” Team compiled by Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders. The columnist honors the players who have most exceeded expectations during the first quarter of the season. The other team members are the Kings‘ Rajon Rondo, the Warriors‘ Stephen Curry, the Mavericks‘ Dirk Nowitzki and Wolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns.

There’s more from around the basketball world:

The Lakers‘ Kobe Bryant addressed his relationship with former teammate Dwight Howard after tonight’s loss in Houston, tweets Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. “My responsibility when Dwight and I played together was to get him to play his best basketball,” Bryant said. “That involves pushing buttons.” Their rocky relationship was believed to be part of the reason Howard left Los Angeles for the Rockets in 2013.
Pistons guard Spencer Dinwiddie may be headed to the team’s D-League affiliate in Grand Rapids on Sunday, according to Terry Foster of The Detroit News. A slump and injuries have reduced Dinwiddie’s playing time, and he has dropped behind Steve Blake in the point guard mix. Detroit coach/executive Stan Van Gundy suggested that Dinwiddie might benefit from increased minutes in Grand Rapids. “We have tried to use the D-League a little bit so he gets some game time,” Van Gundy said. “I think he has to take advantage of every opportunity he’s got to work and get better.”
The Thunder assigned Josh Huestis to the Oklahoma City Blue of the D-League, the team announced via press release. Huestis has played in seven games for the Blue this season, averaging 10.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.57 blocks.

Western Notes: Booker, Anderson, D-League

December 10th, 2015 at 10:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Suns GM Ryan McDonough is thrilled with the play of rookie shooting guard Devin Booker, who was the No. 13 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, Matt Petersen of NBA.com notes. “We thought he’d be a good player down the line, but he showed on this road trip that despite having just turned 19 years old, he’s a pretty darn good player right now,” McDonough said. Booker is averaging 5.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 14.3 minutes per night, and the rookie has connected on a ridiculous 71.4% of his attempts from beyond the 3-point line.

Here’s more from out West:

Pelicans power forward Ryan Anderson has been the subject of recent trade rumors, but the team hasn’t indicated to him that a deal is close to fruition, John Reid of the Times Picayune tweets. “It definitely has not got to the point where they’re asking me, ‘Ryan lets get a trade going or we want you gone,’ Anderson told Reid.
The Kings have recalled Duje Dukan from their D-League affiliate in Reno, the team announced. This was Dukan’s third stint with the Bighorns this season.
Center Mitch McGary has been recalled from the Thunder‘s D-League affiliate, the team announced. McGary has appeared in four games for the Blue this season and is averaging 13.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 block in 27.7 minutes per game.
Fans will likely see less of Kobe Bryant in the fourth quarters of Lakers games as the season progresses so that the team can give its younger players more crunch time experience, Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times notes (Twitter links). “Eventually, it’s going to be like this anyway. Just so these guys can grow,” coach Byron Scott said about keeping Kobe on the bench late in games.