Thunder Re-Sign Andre Roberson

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.Andre Roberson vertical

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.

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