The Thunder have officially waived forward Miye Oni, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. The move had been expected ever since Oklahoma City acquired Oni in a salary-dump deal on Tuesday, as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported at the time that he would be released.
Oni, 24, appeared in 80 games for the Jazz across three seasons, but never developed into a consistent, reliable rotation player. He averaged just 1.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.4 minutes per contest in those three years.
Utah sent Oni to Oklahoma City earlier this week in order to reduce their projected end-of-season luxury tax payment. The Thunder were incentivized to make the deal because they got a future second-round pick out of it, but Oni wasn’t part of their on-court plans.
Assuming Oni goes unclaimed on waivers, the Thunder will carry a dead-money cap hit of $850,331 for a prorated portion of his minimum salary. The 24-year-old would be eligible to sign as a free agent with any NBA team except the Jazz, who wouldn’t be able to immediately re-add him after trading him to OKC.
He had so much potential, or so I thought first seeing him on the floor.
Potential might be the least important “intangible” in the NBA
If Oni he could put it all together
Mama miye…that’s a lousy take.