2018 Offseason In Review: Oklahoma City Thunder

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2018 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2018/19 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Signings:

• Standard contracts:
  • Paul George: Four years, maximum salary ($136.91MM). Fourth-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
  • Jerami Grant: Three years, $27.35MM. Third-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
  • Nerlens Noel: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year player option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Raymond Felton: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Two-way contracts:
  • Deonte Burton
  • Tyler Davis
• Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
  • Abdul Gaddy: One year, minimum salary.
  • Donte Grantham: One year, minimum salary.
  • Scotty Hopson: One year, minimum salary.
  • Dez Wells: One year, minimum salary.
  • Bryce Alford: One year, minimum salary (waived).
  • K.J. McDaniels: One year, minimum salary (waived).
  • Richard Solomon: One year, minimum salary (waived).

Trades:

• Acquired the draft rights to Hamidou Diallo (No. 45 pick) from the Hornets in exchange for the Thunder’s 2019 second-round pick and cash ($243K).
• Acquired Rodney Purvis from the Magic in exchange for Dakari Johnson and cash ($1,978,242).
• Acquired Abdel Nader and cash ($450K) from the Celtics in exchange for Rodney Purvis.
• Acquired Dennis Schroder and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot in a three-way trade with the Hawks and Sixers in exchange for Carmelo Anthony (to Hawks) and the Thunder’s 2022 first-round pick (top-14 protected) (to Hawks).

Draft picks:

• 2-45: Hamidou Diallo — Signed to three-year, minimum salary contract. First two years guaranteed. Third-year team option. Signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.
• 2-53: Devon Hall — Will play overseas.
• 2-57: Kevin Hervey — Signed to G League contract.

Departing players:

• Carmelo Anthony
• Corey Brewer
• Nick Collison (retired)
• P.J. Dozier (two-way)
• Daniel Hamilton (two-way)
• Josh Huestis
• Dakari Johnson
• Kyle Singler (waived)

Other offseason news:

• Andre Roberson suffered setback, expected to be out until at least December.
• Hired Bob Beyer as assistant coach to replace Adrian Griffin.

Salary cap situation:

• Remained over the cap.
• Carrying approximately $145.6MM in guaranteed salaries.
• Projected tax bill of $73.8MM.
• $4.5MM of taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($838K used on Hamidou Diallo).

Check out the Oklahoma City Thunder’s full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.

Story of the summer:

The Thunder knew that trading for Paul George a year before he hit unrestricted free agency was a huge gamble. George had already expressed his desire to return to his home state of California and play in Los Angeles, which motivated Indiana to seek the best deal it could find for the All-Star forward.

What made it an even bigger risk was that George would be joining forces with Russell Westbrook. Oklahoma City had already seen a former league Most Valuable Player, Kevin Durant, ditch the franchise in part because he never completely warmed up to the headstrong All-Star point guard.

The Thunder’s brass still figured it was worth a dice roll. In order to remain competitive in the Western Conference, the Thunder needed a top-shelf forward to complement Westbrook. When the calendar approached July 1st, everyone associated with the franchise held their breath. Turns out, they had nothing to worry about.

George decided weeks before the start of free agency he wasn’t going anywhere. He didn’t even bother meeting with the Lakers before signing a four-year mega-deal with OKC that includes a player option in the final year of the pact.

As George explained shortly afterward, “Loved the situation. Loved where I was at. I decided to stick around a little longer. … I just wanted my free agency to be over with.”

Without George, the Thunder would have become over-reliant on Westbrook, as they did the season after Durant bolted, and struggled just to make the playoffs. With him, they remain one of the few teams that could threaten Golden State’s supremacy.

Key offseason losses:

OKC’s other big move last offseason was to acquire Carmelo Anthony and his creaky knees from the Knicks.

Anthony proved to be surprisingly durable, appearing in 78 regular-season games, his highest total since the 2005/06 season. The problem was that Anthony never truly fit in with two other prolific scorers in the lineup. He attempted a career-low 16.8 shots per game and made 4o.4%, the worst of his career.

He was also a liability on defense and wanted out after seeing his playing time reduced during the postseason. Oklahoma City was fortunate to find a taker, though it had to forward a future first-rounder to sweeten the pot.

Corey Brewer started all six of the Thunder’s playoff games but they didn’t have any interest in re-signing him. Josh Huestis saw action in 69 games, including 10 starts, but didn’t take enough advantage of those opportunities after spending most of his first two seasons in the G League.

Key offseason additions:

Atlanta soured on Dennis Schroder as its starting point guard but the Thunder, who acquired him in the Anthony deal, view him as a key part of their revamped rotation. Schroder brings more pop to the second unit and can start while Westbrook mends from minor knee surgery. The Thunder can also go with some two point-guard looks if the situation dictates, considering that shooting guard Andre Roberson is still dealing with complications from his major knee injury last season.

Jerami Grant played regularly on the second unit last season and the Thunder were determined to keep him in free agency, even when Anthony’s situation was still unsettled. He’ll now move into the lineup, taking over Anthony’s spot. Grant can’t approach Anthony as an offensive threat but he should be a better overall fit playing alongside George and Steven Adams on a regular basis. In the first-round playoffs, 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 was on the bench.

Management took a low-cost flier on Nerlens Noel, whose career has nosedived since a promising start in Philadelphia. Noel only appeared in 30 games with Dallas last season, in part due to injuries, but he can provide low-post scoring as Adams’ primary backup this season.

Outlook for 2018/19:

Assuming Westbrook doesn’t have any setbacks, the Thunder should be back in the postseason. The Westbrook-George duo will put constant pressure on opposing defenses and they won’t have to defer to another ball-dominant veteran (Anthony) this season. Adams,  one of the league’s most underrated big men, delivers a physical presence and a measure of nastiness inside.

If Roberson can return during the second half of the season, their postseason outlook would brighten. He’s the closest thing the team has to a lock-down defender and the other options it has at shooting guard seem more like stopgaps than solutions.

Schroder adds another dimension to the offense and he should be a prime candidate for the league’s Sixth Man award.

The Thunder still don’t have the appearance of a championship team, at least not when compared to Warriors and Rockets. The return of George should get Oklahoma City through the opening round this season but an appearance in the conference semifinals looks like their ceiling.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.