Oklahoma City Thunder Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Andre Roberson Ready For Another Shot At Comeback

September 1st, 2019 at 11:41am CST by Arthur Hill

Andre Roberson “feels really good” as he tries to return to the NBA following a long injury-related absence, his father John tells Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. Roberson has been sidelined since rupturing his left patellar tendon in January of 2018. He had hoped to return last season, but his comeback was derailed by two injuries during rehab.

“I know that was disappointing for him, not being able to go out there and help the way he wanted to help,” John Roberson said. “For me, it’s more important for him to be 100 percent as opposed to going out there and messing himself up further, or being a detriment to the team as opposed to being someone that’s going to actually help the team.”

Before the injury, Roberson was building a reputation as one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders. Even though he never averaged more than 6.6 PPG in a season or shot better than 31.1% on 3-pointers, he was a valuable starter on a Thunder team that was consistently among the league’s best.

Roberson was optimistic that he would be ready early in the 2018/19 season, but an avulsion fracture was discovered in November that set back his rehab schedule. His father said it became a matter of “mental warfare.”

“‘Rest. Let your leg heal. Stop doing so much. Let it heal all the way then you can recondition,’” John said. “I know he wanted to stay in condition while this healing was going on just in case he did happen to get on the court and start playing. But that’s something you’ve got to heal totally in order to start getting back to 100 percent.”

Entering the final season of a three-year, $30MM contract, Roberson faces an uncertain NBA future. The Thunder have made major changes since he last played, trading away Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Jerami Grant this summer, while bringing in Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the new foundation of the team.

It’s not clear how Roberson fits into that new group, but he’s eager for a chance to find out.

“He feels really good,” his father said. “When you get injured, it takes a toll on you mentally because you’re constantly doubting yourself and that things are going to hold up mentally. I think that’s the biggest hurdle he’s had to get over. I think he’s at that point where training camp will tell a whole lot.”

Thunder, Eric Moreland Agree To Training Camp Deal

August 30th, 2019 at 4:28pm CST by Austin Kent

The Thunder have agreed to a training camp deal with center Eric Moreland, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports. The 27-year-old will seek to crack the regular season roster of a retooling franchise that will feature plenty of new faces.

Moreland split last season between the Suns and Raptors but never saw consistent playing time. Moreland only played double digit minutes twice in 2018/19, which is considerably less than the previous year when he battled for the primary backup spot to Pistons center Andre Drummond.

Moreland joins a Thunder squad with only 13 guaranteed contracts, meaning it’s possible that he could stay with the team through to the regular season. He’ll presumably be in competition with fellow recent Thunder signee Justin Patton for reps in the team’s frontcourt, with Patton’s multiyear deal and $700K partial guarantee likely giving him a leg up on Moreland.

Germany, Italy, Others Finalize World Cup Rosters

August 29th, 2019 at 4:59pm CST by Luke Adams

We’re just two days away from FIBA’s 2019 World Cup officially tipping off, and more national teams have officially set their 12-man rosters for the event, including a pair of countries whose squads will feature multiple NBA players.

Team Germany made its final cut this week, dropping Wizards youngster Isaac Bonga from its roster. Even without Bonga on the team, there are plenty of familiar faces for NBA fans — Dennis Schroder (Thunder), Daniel Theis (Celtics), and Maxi Kleber (Mavericks) will represent Germany in this year’s tournament.

The Italian national team, meanwhile, will be led by Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari and Spurs sharpshooter Marco Belinelli. Former NBA forward Gigi Datome and 2014 second-round pick Alessandro Gentile are also part of Italy’s squad.

Here are more details on teams that have established their 12-man World Cup rosters:

Former Knicks and Nuggets forward Renaldo Balkman, ex-Mavericks shooting guard Gian Clavell, and current Kings camp invitee Isaiah Pineiro are among the players on Puerto Rico’s team for the World Cup, per FIBA.
No current NBA players are on the Chinese or Russian World Cup rosters, but Yi Jianlian and Zhou Qi are among the former NBAers representing China, while former Cavaliers and Nets wing Sergey Karasev is leading Russia’s squad.
Cote d’Ivoire also announced its 2019 World Cup roster, as FIBA relays. It doesn’t feature any NBA players.

NBA Teams With Open Two-Way Contract Slots

August 28th, 2019 at 3:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Only a small handful of two-way players from 2018/19 had their contracts carried over to the 2019/20 season. A couple more of last year’s two-way players have signed new two-way deals. For the most part though, NBA teams have filled their two-way contract slots for the coming season with new faces, including several rookies who went undrafted in 2019.

At the moment, 44 of 60 league-wide two-way contract slots are occupied. A 45th appears set to be filled if and when the Knicks finalize their reported agreement with Kris Wilkes. That leaves just 15 two-way deals available across the NBA as training camps approach.

Some clubs may not fill these slots before camps get underway, preferring to sign players to non-guaranteed NBA contracts and then convert those deals to two-way pacts later, depending on how players perform in camp and in the preseason. By the time the 2019/20 regular season begins though, I don’t expect many two-way slots to still be open.

With the help of our two-way contract tracker, which lists all the players currently on two-way deals, here are the teams who can still offer two-way contracts without waiving anyone:

Two open slots:

Houston Rockets
Miami Heat
Toronto Raptors

One open slot:

Brooklyn Nets
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Denver Nuggets
New York Knicks
- Note: The Knicks only have a slot available if their reported deal with Wilkes isn’t finalized.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
Washington Wizards

Darius Bazley Believes Internship Helped Him Prepare For The NBA

August 25th, 2019 at 4:01pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Darius Bazley‘s path to the NBA was anything but traditional. He could have gone through the one-and-done routine, spending a season at Syracuse before declaring for the draft in the midst of his second semester with the university. Instead, Bazley opted to take a $1MM internship with New Balance, and the No. 23 overall pick believes his experience helped him prepare for life in the NBA.

“I feel like without me going through that internship,” Bazley tells Maddie Lee of the Oklahoman. “Without me having to live on my own, without me having to balance that crazy schedule, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. And I wouldn’t be ready for the position that I’m in now, that I’m about to step into.”

Bazley had planned on joining the G League and that put the prospect on New Balance’s radar, Lee writes. The arrangement, which is an endorsement deal, guarantees him $200,000 in each of the next five seasons and is worth up to $14MM with incentives. Shortly after Bazley signed his deal, Kawhi Leonard also joined the team.

The forward enters the league with arguably more business experience than any draft prospect. Bazley didn’t simply show up to work at New Balance; he was heavily involved and gained exposure to the entire process. Bazley was up to the challenge of developing a new skill set and Thunder GM Sam Presti believes he’ll be up to the challenge when developing himself into a top NBA player.

“It’s going to be a process with him,” Presti said. “We’ll have to be patient. We understand that. But at that range of the draft, to be able to get a player that has those ballhandling skills at 6’9″ or 6’9″-plus is pretty unique.”

Northwest Notes: Collins, Porter Jr., Thunder

August 24th, 2019 at 2:58pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Zach Collins is expected to be 100 percent healthy by the time training camp rolls around, Jason Quick of The Athletic relays. The big man suffered a Grade 2 ankle sprain while competing in Tim Grgurich’s summer camp in Las Vegas.

Collins is expected to play a significant role for the Trail Blazers this upcoming season. The team lost Enes Kanter in free agency and jettisoned Meyers Leonard to Miami. Portland did acquire Hassan Whiteside, but the team’s big man depth will be tested until Jusuf Nurkic is able to recover from the broken leg he suffered at the end of the 2018/19 campaign.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

How much will Michael Porter Jr. play for the Nuggets this upcoming season? Eric Spyropoulos of NBA.com would be surprised if it was more than 15-17 minutes per game as a result of the depth on Denver’s roster.
In the same piece, Spyropoulos argues that no team will start the season as strongly from a chemistry standpoint as the Nuggets will. The team brings back a core that has spent several seasons together with the only major addition being Jerami Grant.
We may be in the midst of a player empowerment era in the NBA, though Tom Ziller of SB Nation contends that Paul George‘s move to Los Angeles is not on par with Anthony Davis‘ and LeBron James‘ power moves. Ziller explains how the Thunder, like the Pacers two years prior, received good value in a trade for George.

Heat Notes: Free Agency, Leonard, Okpala, Mooney

August 22nd, 2019 at 10:33am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat won’t be in the market for any of the remaining free agents unless they trade someone from their current roster, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The hard cap that the team has been operating under since the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade has put a severe limit on its flexibility. Miami is already uncomfortably close to its $138.9MM limit.

That means potential additions such as Jamal Crawford, J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony are off the table unless the Heat make another move to open space. They could release Kendrick Nunn, whose contract isn’t fully guaranteed, but Winderman considers that unlikely. If they decide to trade someone in exchange for a lesser salary, Winderman identifies Meyers Leonard, who will earn $11.3MM this season, as a possibility. He adds that they may try to move Goran Dragic by the deadline or save their next significant moves for next summer.

There’s more this morning from Miami:

Second-round pick KZ Okpala wouldn’t object to spending time in the G League if it’s necessary to get consistent playing time, relays Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jackson notes that a similar path worked for Josh Richardson, who played four games for Sioux Falls as a second-round pick in 2015. “I trust the staff and whatever they say is best,” Okpala said. “I believe in that and will go into it with a good foot forward.”
Free agent guard Matt Mooney, who agreed to sign an Exhibit 10 deal with the Grizzlies last week, received the same offer from the Heat, Jackson notes in the same story. It’s a similar situation to Rayjon Tucker, who recently joined the Bucks, as both players worked out for Miami and were interested in two-way contracts. However, the Heat have decided to let players in training camp compete for two-way deals.
Jackson rates the Heat’s potential interest in six players recently identified by former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox as among the most likely to be traded: Chris Paul, Kevin Love, Bradley Beal, Andrew Wiggins, Andre Iguodala and Devin Booker. Miami’s interest in Beal is well known, and he would be at the top of the list if he becomes available. The Heat had discussions about Paul, but won’t make a deal unless they get their two first-round picks back from Oklahoma City. Jackson doesn’t believe Miami would want Love because of his age, contract and injury history, while Iguodala fits better on an immediate contender. However, Jackson sees Booker and Wiggins as possible targets in the future if the Heat can’t land another star in free agency.

Thunder Expected To Take Patient Approach To Trading Chris Paul

August 21st, 2019 at 6:59pm CST by ChrisCrouse

From the moment Chris Paul was traded to the Thunder, the expectation was that OKC would trade him elsewhere. That may be what ultimately happen, though some around the league envision the Thunder being patient as they navigate the trade waters.

Several executives, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst explains on The Jump, believe the Thunder will “put out the message” that they are not looking to trade CP3, talking up his veteran presence and all the positives about having him on the squad.

The franchise will attempt to regain some leverage in negotiations with other teams, as OKC doesn’t want to attach assets such as a first-round pick in order to move Paul’s $38.5MM salary. Paul’s contract is what makes a trade tricky; not his talent, as, even at age 34, he’s a good starting point guard.

It’s previously been reported that GM Sam Presti would be happy to have Paul on the roster all season and that the point guard views the team as a playoff contender in the Western Conference.

And-Ones: Bazley, Superstars, Austin, Nike Academy

August 18th, 2019 at 7:40pm CST by JD Shaw

Thunder rookie Darius Bazley is ready for the challenges he’ll face in the NBA after taking a unique path to the league, Nick Friedell of ESPN writes.

Bazley, 19, was selected with the No. 23 pick in June’s draft by Utah and traded to Oklahoma City that night. Before getting drafted, he opted to skip college and pursue a potential path to the NBA by way of the G League, later skipping this route and focusing on improving his business knowledge and skills.

He would sign an endorsement deal with New Balance, which included a one-year internship with the company.

“You get some people here and there they’ll just ask you about it, ‘Yo, like how was it not going to college?'” Bazley said, as relayed by Friedell. “I know when I was going through the whole pre-draft process traveling from team to team before we’d go out and work out, [the other players would] all be talking about college. And someone would pop up and say, ‘Well, how was it, just sitting out?'”

Bazley immersed himself in the business side of New Balance, Friedell wrote, working diligently with the company when he wasn’t practicing at the facility to prepare for an eventual move to the draft.

“The main thing I really took away from that is just learning how to be professional,” he said. “That was my first job ever so having to go into work and being in an office space with a lot of middle-aged people — you got to learn to be professional. You got to learn to communicate with different people.”

For Bazley, a two-way forward with great potential on a Thunder team that currently lacks wing depth, his sights are now set on bringing values learned over the past year to his first NBA season this fall.

“His ability to handle the ball at his size is really, really unique, and defensively he’s got great range for a young player at that size, as well,” Thunder GM Sam Presti said. “It’s going to be a process with him. We’ll have to be patient. We understand that. But at that range of the draft, to be able to get a player that has those ballhandling skills at 6-foot-9 is pretty unique.”

Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world tonight:

Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated explores the seven NBA stars with the most to prove during the 2019/20 season. Nadkarni’s list includes both LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the top three, with both players eager to prove they can win in Los Angeles.
Former Baylor center Isaiah Austin has signed in Lebanon with Beirut Club, the team announced on social media. Austin, who was projected as a first-round pick in 2014, was forced to spend two years away from the game after being diagnosed with Marfan syndrome. The 25-year-old has since held separate stints in Serbia, China and Lebanon.
Jonathon Givony of ESPN.com lists his takeaways from the Nike Basketball Academy, which included nearly 60 future NBA prospects (24 from college, 32 from high school). NBA players such as DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker also joined in on drills and scrimmages throughout the process, according to Givony.

Thunder Sign Justin Patton

August 14th, 2019 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 14: Patton’s contract with the Thunder is a three-year deal that features a team option on the final season, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM. The club had to use a portion of its mid-level exception to go up to three years.

Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights adds (via Twitter) that Patton’s first-year salary is partially guaranteed for $700K. The two non-guaranteed seasons each have July 7 salary guarantee trigger dates, per Siegel.

According to Smith (via Twitter), the Thunder were intrigued by Patton in the 2017 draft, but couldn’t get into position to select him. Oklahoma City is willing to make a modest investment in the big man now in the hopes that it pays off later.

AUGUST 13: Former first-round pick Justin Patton has found a new NBA team, as the Thunder announced today in a press release that they’ve signed the young center to a contract. Terms of the deal aren’t yet known, but RealGM’s transactions log classifies it as a multiyear contract.

Patton, the 16th overall pick in the 2017 draft, was sent to Minnesota along with Jimmy Butler in the blockbuster trade that saw Lauri Markkanen, Zach LaVine, and Kris Dunn head to Chicago. However, the former Creighton big man was plagued by injuries during his first two NBA seasons, breaking bones in both feet.

Patton appeared in just one game for the Timberwolves before being packaged again with Butler in a trade to Philadelphia last fall. The 22-year-old saw action in three games for the Sixers before being waived in April to make room on the roster for Greg Monroe.

The retooling Thunder only have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, plus one player on a two-way deal. So if Patton shows in training camp and during the preseason that he’s healthy and flashes some of the promise that made him a first-round pick in 2017, it’s possible he’ll stick with Oklahoma City into the regular season. Of course, if his salary is fully or partially guaranteed, the odds of him making the 15-man roster would increase significantly.