JULY 7: The signing is official per a news release from the team.
JUNE 30: After reaching an agreement to retain Paul George, the Thunder aren’t done. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Oklahoma City has reached an agreement with forward Jerami Grant on a three-year contract worth $27MM. Grant will have a player option on the third season, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).
Thunder officials had feared that Grant would get a better offer elsewhere, notes Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype (Twitter link). However, Oklahoma City was able to keep him in the mix even after committing a four-year max deal to George.
The 24-year-old forward just completed his second straight productive season in OKC, averaging 8.4 points and 3.9 rebounds as a valuable member of the Thunder’s reserve squad. He was particularly solid in the postseason — in the first round against the Jazz, the Thunder had a +8.9 net rating when Grant was on the court, and a -17.1 net rating when he sat.
Oklahoma City had a memorable night on the free agent front, but also an expensive one. Grant’s new contract, plus the four-year, $137MM deal for George, represents a lot of new money for a team that already had luxury tax concerns.
It could be a sign that management intends to either pursue a buyout with Carmelo Anthony or waive him and use the stretch provision on his $27.9MM salary. Alex Abrines, Patrick Patterson, and Kyle Singler are other candidates to be traded or waived to cut costs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Thunder are running it back? Why pay the taxes for a team that can’t win this year? These moves are fine if you don’t have a 28 million dollar commitment to a back of the bench melo. The thunder will have to make a choice this season when they are barely hanging on in the West: blow it up or keep pumping money into a lost cause.
Melo is gone in a year anyway so a significant amount of money will come off the books when the Thunder (likely) fail in the playoffs.
Random Jason Kapono mention…Billy Donovan hasnt done anything to differentiate from Scott Brooks, who was always their issue…therefore, he is their issue
But in reality, I always expected them to add a shooter or 2 at the deadline or through buyouts and they never did. That was the problem this year. To blame Melo is a joke. You also have to factor in not having Roberson significantly effected their defense…when OKC had Westbrook, Roberson, PG13, Melo, and Adam’s together, they were like 22-1. Stop with this narrative that Melo is some sort of problem. They need shooting to complement those 3 guys. I thought they’d be in on Belineli and ilyasova before Philly got them
If Ferguson can give them anything on the wing, and they add another guy, prefarably a shooter, and if Patterson is healthier, I think they’ll be much improved next year if they can bring their guys back
Melo is bad and he is expensive. Not his fault, but he is definitely a problem.
His deal isnt precluding them from anything though. And they should much,much rather have him than Kanter
Is he better than Kanter though? Are we sure of that?
I’m actually curious, is there a worse 28 million dollar player in the NBA?
Kanter only looks good because the other non-KP options are terrible. Plus, he fits terribly next to Adams. Both Kanter and Melo are bad defensively and at least Melo is semi-athletic. I’d rather have Adams-Melo than Adams-Kanter.
Buy our coming. Melo’s gonna get around $15mil to take his release and follow Lebron.
You heard it here first.
Maybe the Thunder can deal him to the Lakers for Luol Deng, would save them money this year…and maybe get a pick or another player out of it
If they can dump Abrines and Singler, good for them. I’d hold onto Patterson though. Melo would have to give up a ton of money I’d think for them to buy him out, and he’s not as bad as people make him out to be. I’d like to see them ride the year out and save money where they can, but don’t needlessly cut decent guys.