With his free agency just over a week away, the Thunder are keeping the lines of communication open with Paul George, general manager Sam Presti said on Thursday night, per Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman.
“Paul and his representation, we built a relationship built on transparency, trust and collaboration,” Presti said. “I’m happy to say that that’s continued during the period of time that the season ended to now, which I think speaks a great deal about Paul George and just who he is as a guy. It’s just how he operates. Things don’t change.”
Meanwhile, Presti confirmed that the Thunder have also been having conversations with Carmelo Anthony‘s representatives in recent weeks. Although it’s viewed as a virtual lock that Anthony will opt into the final year of his contract, Presti wasn’t willing to make any assumptions on Thursday, as Erik Horne of The Oklahoman writes.
“I can’t speak to necessarily what he’s gonna to do with respect to the early termination option, but we have been in touch with him and tried to provide him with as much information as we can so he can make the most informed decision possible,” Presti said. “But it’s pretty well-documented, we have a lot of balls in the air, and it’s still June. It’s not even July. So, we’ll have to see what it is that he chooses to do, and we’ll continue to have conversations from there.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Following Thursday’s draft, Trail Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey said the club made an effort to use its No. 24 pick and trade exception to land an “impact rotation guy,” but couldn’t find a suitable deal (Twitter link via Joe Freeman of The Oregonian). “(This draft) wasn’t about existing players,” Olshey said, referring to the fact that no veterans were traded on Thursday. “It was about the draft.”
- The Timberwolves were active on the phones throughout the draft considering potential trades, but ultimately decided that keeping the 20th and 48th picks was their best option, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Minnesota had spoken to the Pacers, Trail Blazers, and Hawks about moving down from No. 20, but with a run on wings happening, didn’t want to risk losing out on a player like Okogie, Krawczynski notes.
- Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said the club had “countless” conversations about trading up in the draft, but was thrilled that Michael Porter Jr. fell to No. 14. Connelly added that the Nuggets will be cautious with Porter and won’t play him until the team is confident that he’s “perfectly healthy” (Twitter links via Gina Mizell of The Denver Post).
Nuggets got a great pick and draft overall. I wouldnt be suprised to see them make the playoffs this year .when MPJ is healthy and jokic on the court together. Trip-Dubs all around watch
A 19 year old with back problems? Yikes!
I’m surprised Portland couldn’t find anyone they liked with 24 and that trade exception, considering guys like Wagner and Williams were still available. Randle for 24 would’ve made sense for both teams, because LA could’ve gotten some compensation before he left and they could’ve added two cheap, young, controllable rotation players to their core/ free agent additions. Imagine if they grabbed Wagner and Williams and they started to come into their own as Lebron reaches the end of his prime and Kawhi/George has peaked…
Randle is not under contract
Minnesota did really well to end up with Okogie and Bates-Diop
Betcha the team will put up better numbers when they put Diop in.
The Nuggets will win 50-55 games next season.
Murray- 21 ppg 3 rpg 6 apg
Harris- 17 ppg 5 rpg 3 apg
Porter Jr- 15 ppg 6 rpg 2 apg
Millsap- 16 ppg 9 rpg 3 apg
Jokic- 17 ppg 12 rpg 8 apg
The Timberwolve’s Brain Trust took considerable time in determining what to do with the 48th pick. They all believed that their picking was over with pick #20, until the long time custodian informed them that, yes, there are, in fact, 2 rounds to the NBA draft and they NEEDED TO MAKE ANOTHER PICK. The team plans on releasing Bates-Diop and allowing him to go to another team for whom he will be able to play. FILE UNDER: Glenn Rice III. BTW = Who is Jhonny Flynn playing for?? – Good thing they didn’t select that Curry guy, he hasn’t amounted to much……
Wtf are you even talking about. None of those picks were made under current management.
I NEVER said they were.
The point was that pretty much throughout the team’s existence 2nd round picks have been treated by the Timberwolves as not having any value. The picks themselves are regularly traded away and should they actually use the pick on a player, the player is never with the Wolves for very long, although the players do have a tendency to find playing time with other organizations.
The last comment = one of many that could be made to explain why this team is consistently on the outside of success and looking in
Glenn Rice? You must mean Glen Robinson, who was let go because he was buried on the depth chart. Read up before you speak.
Thanks for the correction. I knew it was one or the other – just chose to use the wrong name.
Man I am tired to hear about MPJ’s back problems, so did have them Embiid in college, at the same age, but never had any since been a pro, so that means absolutely nothing, so just stop it. Also with the #14 pick there is no risk situation, only 2 stars have ever been picked with that number so NO ONE expects you to pick a star by then, so if it doesn’t work you picked ok, no expectations, no bust, no nothing… but if it works you picked a #1 at the #14, so there is no risk only rewards, an absolutely no brainer, & when he plays with Jokic, it will be some kind of beauty to watch this 2 most incredible talents together, Denver is got a very bright future ahead, happy days in Colorado.