Oklahoma City Thunder Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Rumors: Warriors, Smart, Wolves, Thunder, Cavs, More

November 18th, 2020 at 6:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors and Celtics had some discussions about a deal that would have involved the No. 2 pick and guard Marcus Smart according to Matt Moore of ActionNetwork.com. Sources tell Moore that those talks didn’t ultimately gain traction and aren’t expected to resume after the Celtics rejected a counter-offer from Golden State.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype confirms that the Celtics called the Warriors to gauge their interest in moving the No. 2 pick and made Smart available, but talks “didn’t escalate.”

Here’s more on the draft as we prepare for what should be a fun night:

Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link) is hearing that the Timberwolves will likely remain at No. 1, barring a “blockbuster” move. However, it sounds like the No. 17 pick is still very much in play. Jeremy Woo of SI.com reports (via Twitter) that the Thunder are exploring a deal for the No. 17 pick.
Isaac Okoro is rising on the Cavaliers‘ board, according to Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), who says if Cleveland trades down to No. 8, it would likely hinge on the team’s ability to land Okoro at that spot.
The Clippers are looking to buy a second-round pick and/or trade up from No. 57, league sources tell Scotto.
The Suns could still trade down from No. 10 or use the pick in a deal for a veteran player, but they’re unlikely to move up, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7.

Sixers Trading Al Horford, Draft Picks To Thunder For Danny Green

November 18th, 2020 at 4:26pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers and Thunder have agreed to a trade that will send Al Horford and two draft picks to Oklahoma City and Danny Green to Philadelphia, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

The two picks headed to Oklahoma City are the Sixers’ 2025 first-round pick – which will be “lightly” protected – and the 34th pick in tonight’s draft, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer clarifies (via Twitter) that the ’25 first-rounder will be top-six protected.

According to Woj (Twitter link), Philadelphia will also receive wing Terrance Ferguson in the swap, while OKC will acquire the rights to draft-and-stash prospect Vasilije Micic, a 26-year-old who is considered one of the top point guards in Europe.

For the Sixers, the move represents a way to get off the most cumbersome prospect on the team’s books. While Horford (owed $27.5MM in 2020/21) would only have been Philadelphia’s fourth highest-paid player, the other three – Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Tobias Harris – all have clear roles on the team going forward, whereas Horford wasn’t a great fit during his first year as a Sixer.

The 76ers will replace Horford will Green, a three-and-D wing who adds some much-needed outside shooting to their lineup. Although Green struggled for the Lakers late in the postseason, he was a solid starter throughout the regular season, averaging 8.0 PPG with a .367 3PT% in 68 games (24.8 MPG). He has won championships in each of the last two seasons, having been a major part of Toronto’s rotation in 2018/19.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN details (via Twitter), the Sixers’ financial savings as a result of the deal should be substantial. Marks estimates it’ll save the team $18MM in tax penalties in 2020/21, as well as $7.7MM in salary. There will also be $42MM in long-term savings, with Green on a $15MM expiring contract and Horford still owed guaranteed money in ’21/22 and ’22/23.

The Thunder, who are acquiring Green in a not-yet-finalized deal with the Lakers, will either fold this deal into that one, making it a three-teamer, or renounce their free agents and use cap room to take on Horford, as Marks notes (via Twitter). If Oklahoma City takes the latter route, it would presumably close the door on the possibility of a Danilo Gallinari sign-and-trade scenario.

The Thunder now hold four picks in tonight’s draft — Nos. 25, 28, 34, and 53. And, of course, the 2025 pick is the latest in a long line of future first-rounders acquired by GM Sam Presti, who continues to stockpile assets for the franchise’s rebuild.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Thunder Decline Option On Deonte Burton

November 18th, 2020 at 11:19am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Thunder will not exercise their $1,663,861 third-year team option on 6’4″ wing Deonte Burton, making him an unrestricted free agent, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets.

The move will enable Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti to open up a roster spot and generate a little added cap flexibility, as the team might be very active in draft-day dealmaking. Haynes notes that the Thunder may be open to bringing the 26-year-old Burton back.

Burton went undrafted in 2017 out of Iowa State. He had been on the Thunder roster since the 2018/19 season, when he started out by signing a two-way contract with the club before agreeing to a standard contract in March 2019. Burton played 39 games with the club last season, averaging 9.1 minutes per night.

Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman notes that, with Burton clearing their books, the Thunder now have only 13 players under contract for next season, including third-year wing Hamidou Diallo, for whom they have an identical $1,663,861 team option, and veteran big man Mike Muscala, who has yet to exercise his $2,283,034 player option.

Trade Rumors: Celtics, Hayward, Kings, Magic, Fournier, More

November 18th, 2020 at 9:26am CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics continue to search for potential pathways to get into the top three of tonight’s NBA draft, league sources tell Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). An earlier report suggested the C’s haven’t had much luck gaining traction on a move into the mid-lottery using their current three first-round picks (Nos. 14, 26, and 30).

It’s unclear if a potential deal involving Gordon Hayward would provide a path for the Celtics to move up in the draft. Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) hears that the team is “mostly in a holding pattern” with Hayward for the time being.

Following up on a Tuesday report which indicated that the Hawks are eyeing Hayward, Jared Weiss of The Athletic cites a person familiar with the forward’s thinking who says Hayward wants to be a core part of a winning team and may not be interested in a move to Atlanta. Weiss wonders if the report linking Hayward to the Hawks may have been leaked to increase the 30-year-old’s leverage as he weighs his player option decision.

Meanwhile, in his latest Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst theorized that the Cavaliers, who hold the No. 5 pick, could be a landing spot for Hayward. Cleveland has interest in Hayward, according to Windhorst, who speculated that the Cavs and Celtics could be open to a deal that involves Andre Drummond and a draft-pick swap. Of course, if Hayward is prioritizing playing for a contender, he may try to angle to avoid a move to Cleveland.

Here are a few more trade-related notes and rumors, with the draft around the corner:

Also in Windhorst’s latest Hoop Collective podcast, he and colleague Zach Lowe identified the Kings and Magic as two teams that may be looking to get a little younger this offseason rather than being content with competing again for the No. 8 seed. Nemanja Bjelica was identified by Lowe as a possible trade candidate to watch in Sacramento, while Windhorst added that Orlando would likely be open to moving Evan Fournier.
Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link) wouldn’t be surprised if the Mavericks renew their interest in shooting guard Danny Green, who is being sent to Oklahoma City in a deal for Dennis Schröder. Dallas attempted to sign Green in free agency a year ago, and the rebuilding Thunder are unlikely to be too attached to him.
Although the Nuggets had interest in acquiring Jrue Holiday, they were surprised by what it cost Milwaukee to land him and didn’t feel pressure to make as significant an offer as the Bucks did, as Mike Singer of The Denver Post explains.

O’Connor’s Latest: Hornets, Knicks, Toppin, Spurs, Harris, More

November 17th, 2020 at 12:50pm CST by Luke Adams

League sources have long said that the Hornets‘ preference on draft night would be adding a big man, either by trading up for James Wiseman or by picking Onyeka Okongwu, writes Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. However, according to O’Connor, there are some people in Charlotte’s front office who like the idea of drafting LaMelo Ball if he’s available.

As O’Connor notes, one potential avenue for the Hornets if Wiseman is off the board at No. 3 and Ball is available would be to trade down with a team like Chicago or Detroit that might be eyeing Ball. In that scenario, Charlotte could theoretically pick up an extra asset or two while still having the opportunity to select Okongwu.

Here are a few more of the most interesting tidbits from O’Connor’s latest mock draft at The Ringer:

O’Connor’s sources believe the Knicks will select Obi Toppin if he’s available at No. 8. If the Dayton forward makes it past Cleveland at No. 5, there’s a chance he’ll still be on the board for New York.
The Spurs “love” Villanova forward Saddiq Bey, according to O’Connor, who says San Antonio is also one of multiple teams with interest in trading up for Florida State’s Patrick Williams.
“Everyone around the league” thinks that the Thunder will look to trade up to land seven-footer Aleksej Pokusevski, who has been frequently linked to Oklahoma City in large part due to his agent’s connection to general manager Sam Presti. Agent Jason Ranne used to work in the Thunder’s front office.
Within his note on the Nets‘ potential pick at No. 19, O’Connor cites sources who say that Brooklyn is likely to re-sign free agent sharpshooter Joe Harris.
The Nuggets are thought to be targeting a frontcourt player at No. 22, league sources tell O’Connor, who identifies Isaiah Stewart and Zeke Nnaji as a couple possibilities.

Trade Notes: Bucks, Bogdanovic, Holiday, Kings, Pelicans

November 17th, 2020 at 7:47am CST by Luke Adams

The deals to acquire both Jrue Holiday and Bogdan Bogdanovic took practically every asset the Bucks had left, but the team now projects to have one of the NBA’s best starting lineups, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic, who notes that Milwaukee’s new additions will join Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez in the starting five.

As Nehm writes, the Bucks’ aggressive roster overhaul should eliminate any doubt that the franchise is serious about getting Antetokounmpo the help he needs to win a title. However, the acquisitions will leave the club hard-capped and with little flexibility to fill out the rest of the roster.

Because Holiday has a series of likely and unlikely bonuses that count toward the hard cap, the Bucks will probably be limited to minimum-salary contracts as they look to fill out their roster and keep team salary below $138,928,000, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

By my rough calculations, Milwaukee would have about $27.3MM in room below the hard cap to fit in Bogdanovic’s starting salary and minimum-salary contracts for seven players. That would get the Bucks to 14 players, not counting two-ways, though they could carry just 13 for parts of the season in order to create a little more cap flexibility.

Here’s more on the two deals the Bucks agreed to on Monday night:

While former Kings general manager Vlade Divac likely would’ve been willing to match offers in the $15-18MM range for Bogdanovic, it was never clear how enthusiastic new GM Monte McNair was about retaining the swingman, whose camp signaled a “willingness to play hardball” with Kings management, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
The Pelicans‘ decision to move Holiday in a package that includes three first-round picks and a pair of pick swaps is the latest indication that the organization is prioritizing its long-term goals over shortcuts to contention, says Scott Kushner of NOLA.com. Even with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram on the brink of stardom, New Orleans is preaching patience and wants to build its roster through the draft, as Kushner explains.
The Pelicans could theoretically flip Eric Bledsoe or George Hill to another team immediately after acquiring them, but they won’t be able to aggregate either player for salary-matching purposes until December 8, tweets Marks. Typically, there’s a two-month gap before a player can be aggregated, but that has been adjusted to account for the shortened offseason. For instance, the Thunder will be able to aggregate the players they acquired for Chris Paul as early as December 5, Marks notes (via Twitter).
Speaking of Paul, the Bucks never engaged in any trade talks for the veteran point guard, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link).

All-Star Guard Chris Paul Traded To Suns

November 16th, 2020 at 8:07pm CST by Luke Adams

8:07pm: The trade is official, per a Suns press release.

12:11pm: The Suns and Thunder are finalizing an agreement on a trade that will send All-Star point guard Chris Paul from Oklahoma City to Phoenix, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Thunder will receive Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque, and draft compensation in the deal. Wojnarowski adds that the Suns will also get Abdel Nader in the blockbuster swap (Twitter link).

The draft pick being sent from Phoenix to Oklahoma City in the trade is the Suns’ 2022 first-rounder, per Wojnarowski. Charania reports (via Twitter) that the pick will be top-12 protected. If it doesn’t change hands in 2022, it’ll be top-10 protected in 2023, top-eight protected in 2024, and unprotected in 2025.

The Suns, whose interest in Paul was first reported last week, are hoping that the veteran guard can help the team build upon its 8-0 showing during the Orlando restart and make the postseason in 2020/21. Paul, who will reunite with his former Pelicans coach Monty Williams, will join an intriguing core that includes star guard Devin Booker, former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, and promising young wings Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges.

While bigger-market teams (like the Knicks) and stronger contenders (including the Bucks) were cited in recent weeks as potential suitors for CP3, the 35-year-old won’t object to joining the Suns. The Thunder worked with Paul and his reps at CAA to get him to a preferred destination, per Woj (Twitter link). A report last week suggested that Phoenix’s proximity to Los Angeles appealed to Paul, who has a home in the L.A. area.

Phoenix will complete the trade without using the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft, so the club will have the opportunity on Wednesday to add another young prospect to that group. The Suns also have a couple different directions they could go in free agency.

Remaining over the cap and attempting to bring back Dario Saric and Aron Baynes is one option for the organization — the other would be to let those free agents go to open up cap room, then using up that space before officially finalizing the deal for CP3. In that scenario, Phoenix would only have the $4.8MM room exception left over, whereas if the team remains over the cap, the mid-level ($9.3MM) and bi-annual ($3.6MM) could be in play.

Meanwhile, the Thunder appear to be shifting into full-fledged rebuilding mode after outperforming expectations in 2019/20. They’ve now reached deals to move both Paul and Dennis Schröder. Steven Adams remains a trade candidate, as are the veterans Oklahoma City will receive in the two agreed-upon trades (Rubio, Oubre, and Danny Green).

Having acquired a pair of first-round picks and two future pick swaps in last year’s Paul/Russell Westbrook trade, the Thunder were able to parlay CP3’s strong season (17.6 PPG, 6.7 APG, 5.0 RPG) into yet another first-round selection. The franchise now owns three 2022 first-rounders and holds multiple first-round picks every year through 2026, as Tommy Beer of Forbes details (via Twitter).

By taking on Paul’s contract, the Suns will be on the hook for his $41.4MM salary in 2020/21 and his $44.2MM player option for ’21/22. Nader has a minimum salary for ’20/21 which will remain non-guaranteed even after his team option is exercised to complete this trade.

As for the Thunder, they’ll take on Oubre’s expiring $14.4MM salary and will be on the hook for $34.8MM over two years for Rubio. Jerome, who has a $2.3MM cap charge in 2020/21, is in the second year of a rookie scale contract, while Lecque has a guaranteed $1.5MM salary for ’20/21 and a non-guaranteed $1.8MM for ’21/22.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Western Notes: Suns, Hardaway, WCS, Lakers, Thunder

November 16th, 2020 at 3:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns are expected to finalize their trade for Chris Paul before the new league year begins on Friday, according to Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com. If that’s the case, the expectation is that Phoenix won’t use cap room this fall, opting to remain an over-the-cap team instead.

While that may prevent the Suns from making one bigger splash on the free agent market, it means the club will retain the flexibility to bring back one or more of Dario Saric, Aron Baynes, and Frank Kaminsky. Phoenix will also have the full mid-level ($9.3MM) and bi-annual ($3.6MM) exceptions available to make additional upgrades to its roster.

Here’s more from around the West:

A Mavericks source who spoke to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link) says the team thinks swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. will likely exercise his player option, while big man Willie Cauley-Stein may not.
In addition to his previously reported workouts with Utah, Denver, Miami, and the Clippers, Arizona’s Zeke Nnaji has also auditioned for the Lakers, he said today (Twitter link via Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune). However, Nnaji projects to be a late first-round selection, so he may no longer be an option for the Lakers now that they’ve traded the No. 28 pick.
Former Thunder big men Nazr Mohammed and Nick Collison were involved in the team’s head coaching search process, according to Royce Young of ESPN, who tweets that Mohammed and Collison met with candidates to represent the player perspective.
In a piece for ESPN.com, Royce Young takes a deep dive into the Timberwolves‘ draft preparations as they get ready to use – or trade – this year’s No. 1 overall pick.

Northwest Notes: Daigneault, Nuggets, Blazers, Holiday, Jazz

November 15th, 2020 at 9:01pm CST by JD Shaw

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault took a rather unique path toward his new position, starting out as a manager at UConn several years ago, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman writes.

“I’ve been with people that have definitely seen potential in me and definitely believe in me,” Daigneault said, “but they’ve given me these opportunities well before I’ve earned them. They’ve invested rather than rewarded.”

Oklahoma City promoted Daigneault, 35, as the franchise’s new coach this month, making him the second-youngest head coach in the league besides Minnesota’s Ryan Saunders. He first joined the organization in 2014 as head coach of the team’s G League affiliate.

“When Sam called me and offered me the job the other day,” Daigneault said, “I was just so overwhelmed thinking about all the people that have had their fingerprints on my life and career.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division tonight:

Mike Singer of the Denver Post explores the Nuggets‘ thinking ahead of the draft, with team president Tim Connelly offering his own perspective on the upcoming event. “Collectively teams are probably less certain what might be happening around them, what other teams are thinking, because we’ve lacked those avenues to get together and talk about what this team’s doing, that team’s doing,” Connelly said. “It should make for a fun night. There’s some clarity on the very top of the draft, and then after that, it’ll largely be a free-for-all.”
The Trail Blazers have expressed interest in Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday, according to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor (Twitter link). O’Connor added that a potential trade between the teams remains unlikely, however, citing Portland’s lack of potential assets to include in an offer.
Sarah Todd of the Deseret News examines five prospects the Jazz should consider in Wednesday’s NBA draft. Utah owns the No. 23 pick this year, which could be used on a player such as Tyler Bey (Colorado) or Robert Woodard II (Mississippi State).

Rival Teams Expect Gallinari To Sign With Contender If Thunder Trade Paul

November 14th, 2020 at 1:13pm CST by JD Shaw

Some members within the Mavericks are interested in pursuing Danilo Gallinari once free agency opens on Nov. 20, according to Ian Begley of SNY. Dallas will likely join a significant number of suitors for Gallinari, with rival teams expecting that he’ll join a contender if the Thunder wind up trading Chris Paul.