- Kevin Durant acknowledges “the ghost of your past” that was hanging over his first meeting with the Thunder, but tells Michael Lee of The Vertical that disappeared quickly once Thursday’s game began. Durant posted a season-high 39 points in the blowout of his former team. There were few confrontations, other than some obvious trash talking with backup center Enes Kanter, who took some shots at Durant on Twitter after he signed with Golden State. Durant and OKC star Russell Westbrook barely had any interaction. “It’s something I’m never going to forget. Something that’s never going to go away,” Durant said of his time in Oklahoma City. “I’m just trying to move forward, look forward, but also realize how important the past was and that formed me into who I am today. I’m not throwing that part of my life in the trash. But now I’m on to something new, trying to keep growing in this situation, trying to keep getting better overall, as a basketball player, man, everything. Just keep moving forward, that’s the most important thing in my life.”
- Steven Adams‘ new extension with the Thunder features a 7.5% trade kicker, so he’d get a bonus if he’s traded by Oklahoma City over the life of the four-year deal, per Stein.
[SOURCE LINK]
Throughout the offseason, and in the weeks leading up to the start of the regular season, NBA teams are permitted to carry 20 players, but that total must be cut down to 15 in advance of opening night. However, up to four players waived by teams before the season can be designated as affiliate players and assigned to their D-League squads.
The players have some say in the decision — if they’d prefer to sign with a team overseas, or if they get an opportunity with another NBA club, they’re free to turn down their team’s request to have them play in the D-League. Most NBA and international teams have fairly set rosters by late October though, so having the opportunity to continue playing in the same system is appealing to many of those preseason cuts. Especially since they’ll maintain NBA free agency while they play in the D-League.
There are a few other rules related to D-League affiliate players. A player whose returning rights are held by a D-League team can’t be an affiliate player for another club, which is why undrafted free agents from the current year are commonly signed and assigned. Additionally, an affiliate player must have signed with his team during the current league year, which explains why we often see players signed and quickly waived in the days leading up to the regular season. And, of course, not every NBA team has a D-League affiliate, so clubs like the Hawks, Nuggets, or Clippers have no place to send affiliate players.
With all that in mind, here are the NBA D-League affiliate players to start the 2016/17 season:
Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs)
Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Delaware 87ers (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Pincus also has the details on the new extensions for Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo of the Thunder. Adams’ contract increases in salary each year and is worth exactly $100MM overall, while Oladipo’s deal has a cap hit of $21MM in each of its four seasons.
Jerami Grant may be the new guy in the Thunder locker room, but he has a lot of connections already, writes Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. Grant has been friends with guard Victor Oladipo since middle school, and he played for Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan for two years on the Under-19 USA Basketball team. Grant, who was traded from Philadelphia to OKC on Tuesday, is familiar with the area because his father, Harvey, played college ball at Oklahoma. “I love the state. I love the city,” Jerami Grant said. “I definitely have a good feel for the area.”
There’s more out of Oklahoma City:
- The strong personalities of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were destined to doom their relationship, Horne contends in a separate piece. The former teammates will meet for the first time Thursday night when the Thunder travel to Golden State to face Durant’s new team. Many observers felt it was a slight when Durant sent a text to Westbrook to inform him that he was signing with the Warriors, and they haven’t discussed the situation since Durant announced his decision. “We’ve been together eight years,” Westbrook said. “You don’t throw that away. Obviously, he’s now with a new team. But we definitely will talk. Eventually. But, obviously, now we haven’t.”
- There was little opportunity cost to giving extensions to Steven Adams and Oladipo, writes Michael Pina of Real GM. The deals cost OKC about $184MM, but the Thunder weren’t in position to get two better players at that price. The team needs to stay competitive to keep Westbrook from leaving in free agency in two years, so it made sense to spend the money to keep two important players in place. The only downside is that Oklahoma City can’t chase elite free agents next summer.
- Giving $84MM to a player like Oladipo is the kind of deal that can backfire, warns Real GM’s Colin McGowan. Oladipo is a shooting guard without a dependable 3-point shot, McGowan writes, and he could create salary cap problems in Oklahoma City if he can’t blend his game with Westbrook’s.
- According to Marks, Victor Oladipo‘s four-year, $84MM extension with the Thunder also features $1MM total in unlikely incentives — $250K per year.
The 2016/17 NBA season is now eight days old, and already 25 teams have suffered at least one loss, leaving just five undefeated teams. The Thunder, Clippers, Bulls, and Hawks are 3-0, while the Cavaliers are 4-0.
Of those five clubs, the Cavaliers and Clippers were expected to be title contenders this year, so their hot starts don’t come as a real surprise. However, the other three remaining undefeated franchises had more question marks entering the season. The Thunder and Hawks lost top free agents this summer, in Kevin Durant and Al Horford, and the Bulls’ roster construction led many observers to question whether they’d have enough shooting and spacing to be effective on offense.
While three or four games is hardly enough of a sample size to draw definitive conclusions about any NBA team, it’s worth keeping an eye out for early signs of potential surprises. So today’s Community Shootaround discussion questions center around these five clubs.
Which of the NBA’s five remaining undefeated teams do you think will continue to rank among the league’s elite? Are the Cavs and Clippers still the only safe bets among the group, or do the Thunder, Hawks, and Bulls have a good chance to keep up their hot starts and outperform expectations? Are any of these clubs mediocre squads that have been helped in the early going by soft schedules?
Weigh in below in our comments section with your thoughts on which of the NBA’s five remaining undefeated teams are for real, and which ones you expect to come back down to earth soon.
3:28pm: Both teams have issued press release confirming the deal. The Thunder’s announcement indicates that the team has gained a trade exception, as noted below, so for now OKC won’t renounce that TPE to gain cap room.
2:57pm: The first-round pick heading to Philadelphia in the swap will be top-20 protected, and will turn into two second-rounders if it doesn’t fall in that 21-30 range, tweets Bobby Marks of The Vertical. The Thunder already have a first-rounder going to Utah in 2018, so the pick involved in the deal with the Sixers will be a 2020 selection, as Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders tweets. If the Sixers don’t get a first-rounder, they’d get their pair of second-rounders in 2022 and 2023, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter).
2:43pm: The future pick the Sixers are receiving from the Thunder will be a first-rounder, reports Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (via Twitter). However, Zillgitt adds that the pick will have multiple protections, and Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets that it may be a “fake first” of sorts. The Sixers hope to receive the first-rounder from the Thunder in 2020, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Meanwhile, Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link) says Philadelphia plans to keep Ilyasova rather than waiving him to open up a roster spot.
2:23pm: The Sixers and Thunder have completed a trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter links), who reports that Ersan Ilyasova is heading to Philadelphia along with a conditional future draft pick. Oklahoma City will receive Jerami Grant in return.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Thunder have been pursuing a potential trade involving Grant for “several months.” The 22-year-old, a second-round pick back in 2014, spent the last two seasons with Philadelphia. In 144 total contests for the franchise, he averaged 8.2 PPG and 3.9 RPG, shooting just 39.4% from the floor. While Grant has shown some promise, the Sixers had a crowded frontcourt, making him somewhat expendable.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, will land Ilyasova, a stretch four who could add some much-needed outside shooting to the Sixers’ roster. The Turkish big man was one of three players Oklahoma City received from the Magic in exchange for Serge Ibaka this summer, along with Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Ilyasova was the least-important piece in that deal, but has been a solid scorer and rebounder over the course of his NBA career, putting up 10.6 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and a .369 3PT% in 530 career contests with the Bucks, Pistons, Magic, and Thunder.
The Sixers’ huge chunk of cap room will come in handy when completing this move. The club is well below the salary floor, entering the day with only about $70MM in 2016/17 salary on its books. Ilyasova ($8.4MM) makes significantly more money than Grant ($980K), so Philadelphia will take on some salary in the deal, which likely explains why the Thunder are surrendering a draft pick in the swap.
Additionally, Grant – unlike Ilyasova – is under team control beyond this season. The young forward is earning the minimum salary this season and has a team option on his contract for the 2017/18 worth the minimum as well.
The Thunder entered the day ever so slightly over the cap, so they’ll have some flexibility after completing the deal — the team could technically remain an over-the-cap club, with a traded player exception worth Ilyasova’s salary. However, if OKC wants to forfeit that TPE, the team would have more than $7MM in cap room at its disposal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
11:13pm: The Thunder have formally announced their new deal with Adams, issuing a press release confirming the news.
3:49pm: Adams and OKC are in the process of finalizing a four-year, $100MM extension, Wojnarowski tweets.
1:55pm: The Thunder and center Steven Adams are making “significant progress” in discussions on a potential contract extension, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. According to Wojnarowski, the two sides are working toward a possible four-year, $100MM deal.
Adams is one of many 2013 first-round picks who remains eligible for a rookie-scale extension until the end of Monday. Teams have until midnight eastern time to lock up extension-eligible players to new deals — if the two sides can’t agree to terms, those players will remain on track for restricted free agency in the summer of 2017.
Adams, 23, averaged a modest 8.0 PPG to go along with 6.7 RPG, 1.1 BPG, and a .613 FG% during the 2015/16 season. Those numbers aren’t eye-popping, and his career .551 FT% is a cause for some concern. However, Adams’ showing in the postseason provided a better picture of his importance to the Thunder.
In 18 playoff games, the New Zealand native saw his minutes per game increase from 25.2 to 30.7, and he nearly averaged a double-double in those contests, with 10.1 PPG and 9.5 RPG. In the team’s first three games this season, Adams has notched 13.0 PPG and 9.0 RPG in an expanded role.
When I explored Adams’ extension candidacy back in August, I suggested the Thunder might want to wait until next summer in order to maximize their potential cap room. Signing Adams to a new deal now would mean his salary would hit the team’s 2017/18 books immediately after the July moratorium ends next summer. By waiting to extend him, Oklahoma City would initially carry a smaller cap hold, allowing the club a little more flexibility to pursue free agents or trade targets.
Still, waiting until next July to lock up Adams would almost certainly mean giving him a max deal, since there’d likely be other suitors ready to make such an offer. A four-year, $100MM pact would come in a little below the max based on current cap projections, which could motivate the Thunder to work something out sooner rather than later. Giannis Antetokounmpo signed a four-year, $100MM rookie-scale extension with the Bucks earlier this year.
In addition to Adams, Victor Oladipo and Andre Roberson are also eligible for extensions for the Thunder.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
11:12pm: The Thunder have officially signed Oladipo to an extension, the team announced today in a press release.
2:52pm: The Thunder have agreed to a four-year extension with Victor Oladipo in advance of tonight’s deadline, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. Oladipo’s new deal, which will go into effect in 2017/18, is expected to be worth $84MM, per Charania.
[RELATED: Thunder, Steven Adams making significant progress in extension talks]
A former second overall pick out of Indiana, Oladipo was part of the trade that sent to Serge Ibaka to Orlando in June, heading to Oklahoma City in the deal along with Domantas Sabonis and Ersan Ilyasova. Reports in the summer suggested that Oladipo might be seeking a maximum-salary contract, but the Thunder were able to lock him up at a lower rate, ensuring that he’ll stay off the free agent market next summer.
Oladipo, 24, was one of the primary scorers for the Magic during his three years with the team, averaging 15.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 4.0 APG, and 1.6 SPG in 224 regular-season contests. In his first three games with the Thunder, he has averaged 17.0 PPG on a FG% of just .340, though that’s obviously a very small sample size.
The Thunder completed their acquisition of Oladipo before Kevin Durant finalized his decision to leave Oklahoma City for Golden State, and the team had viewed the former Magic guard as a nice fit alongside Durant. However, the club remains optimistic about its backcourt duo of Oladipo and Russell Westbrook, who each provide plenty of tenacity and energy on both sides of the ball. Westbook received an extension from the Thunder this offseason as well, so the two standout guards will be given every opportunity to thrive together for the next couple years.
With Oladipo secured, the Thunder can shift their focus today to Steven Adams and Andre Roberson, who are also eligible to sign rookie-scale extension before the deadline of midnight eastern time. As we learned earlier today, OKC is in talks with Adams on a potential four-year, $100MM extension, and there’s growing optimism that the two sides can hammer out a deal. The team is also engaged in negotiations with Roberson, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
Teams can be reluctant to lock up their potential restricted free agents to big-money extensions ahead of free agency, since keeping a modestly-priced cap hold on their books for a week or two the following July can give them additional flexibility to use cap room in free agency. However, as a former No. 2 overall pick, Oladipo would have had a large cap hold next summer as a restricted free agent, so his deal shouldn’t hinder OKC’s flexibility significantly.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.