The Thunder have officially signed undrafted rookie Josh Hall to his two-way contract, agent Nathan Conley tells JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link). Hall’s agreement with the club was reported shortly after the draft last month.
Ranked by ESPN as the No. 5 prospect among those who went undrafted, Hall has “considerable potential” as both a shooter and ball-handler, according to Mike Schmitz’s scouting report. A 6’9″ forward, Hall had been on track to play college ball at North Carolina State after a year at Moravian Prep, but opted to go pro and enter the draft instead.
The Thunder opened up a pair of spots on their 20-man training camp roster by completing their Al Horford trade earlier today, so it appears that Hall slid into one of those openings.
The signing increases Oklahoma City’s roster count to 19 players, with reported deals for Theo Maledon, Chasson Randle and Moses Brown (two-way contract) still to come. The club will have to make at least two cuts to finalize those moves.
OKC has an excellent chance of successfully tanking this season and securing a top 5 pick in next year’s draft. They have a tremendous advantage over teams in the east like the Knicks and Cavs who get to play a much softer schedule.
The Thunder will be playing the Lakers, Nuggets, Rockets, Clippers, Blazers, Mavs, and the rest of the West three times apiece. They should have little trouble losing as many games as the Warriors did last season. But hopefully they will choose wisely with their draft pick unlike Golden State.
Wiseman might turn out to be good once the Warriors rebuild has begun in 2022, or 2023 if they choose to wait that long. But with KT once again lost for the season, they will be lucky just to reach the play-in tournament to try and get back to the playoffs in 2021.