- Thunder guard Luguentz Dort sustained a concussion during Sunday’s practice and has been placed in the league’s concussion protocol, according to a team press release. Dort, who was limited to 51 games last season, signed a five-year, $87.5MM contract in July and projects as the team’s starting small forward.
If EuroLeague star Vasilije Micic makes the jump to the NBA, he wants a clearly-defined role and believes he may not be a good fit with the Thunder, he told Semih Tuna of Eurohoops.net.
Oklahoma City holds the rights to Micic and general manager Sam Presti recently stated the Thunder came “pretty close” to signing Micic, who has won back-to-back EuroLeague titles and Final Four MVPs with Turkish club Anadolu Efes.
Micic, 28, indicated he was hesitant to sign because he was unsure if he’d be part of the rotation.
“Talking about OKC, they have my rights and I have the desire to go there, but maybe our opinions are conflicting,” he said. “They want to develop their players and build a young team with all those great young guys they have. Maybe there is no space for me.”
Micic’s representatives were rumored to be urging the Thunder to trade his rights. However, he was still under contract in Europe and ultimately decided to stay with Efes for another season.
A conversation with Nikola Jokic also led to Micic’s decision to stay in Europe. They are teammates on the Serbian national team.
“From what I heard from my agents, there were rumors about some teams. Some teams were interested in me. As far as I understand, people there are hesitant to give me the role that I want,” he said. “I was talking to Jokic, he’s the best player out there. He said to me, ‘It doesn’t matter who you are when you’re there, what matters is the role you get, whether they will sign you, and the money in return. That’s how they look at you and show their confidence in this way.'”
Micic mentioned the possibility of being traded to a playoff contender, but said “that’s out of my hands.”
In terms of playing here next season, he’s more focused on getting playing time than a big contract.
“I don’t expect anything too cheap or anything crazy high on the contract,” he said. “The main issue for me is not money, but rather the trust of the team in me.”
Sacha Killeya-Jones, who signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Thunder on Sunday, has been placed on waivers, the team announced (via Twitter).
In a corresponding move, Oklahoma City has signed forward Robert Woodard II, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.
Woodard spent the past two seasons with the Kings, appearing in 25 combined games. After being waived in February, he played for the Thunder’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, which is where Mussatto expects him to wind up again.
Killeya-Jones’ deal with OKC was first reported in late July, but it didn’t become official until over the weekend. He reached the Exhibit 10 agreement with OKC after playing for the Lakers during Summer League.
The 6’11” power forward spent three seasons overseas after going undrafted out of N.C. State in 2019. He will also likely join the Oklahoma City Blue and can earn a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days there.
The Cavaliers‘ acquisition of Donovan Mitchell made their offseason the most successful of any NBA team, according to the league’s general managers. In his annual survey of the NBA’s top basketball decision-makers, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes that 41% of the GM respondents picked Cleveland as having made the best offseason moves, while 59% chose the addition of Mitchell as the move that will have the biggest impact.
The Timberwolves and Jazz were on opposite ends of one of the summer’s other blockbuster trades, but the two clubs tied for second (along with the Sixers) in the GM vote for which teams made the best overall offseason moves. Minnesota’s trade for Rudy Gobert was the second-leading vote-getter for the offseason’s most impactful single acquisition, earning 31% of the vote.
The team viewed by the majority of GMs as the title favorite for 2023 didn’t earn any votes for having the best offseason. According to Schuhmann, 43% of the poll respondents picked the Bucks to win next year’s Finals, with GMs apparently betting on continuity in Milwaukee. The Warriors (25%), Clippers (21%), and Celtics (11%) also received votes.
Here are a few more interesting results from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:
- NBA general managers expect the Clippers – who will have Kawhi Leonard back – to be the most improved team in 2022/23. L.A. received 41% of the vote, with the Cavaliers and Pelicans at 17% apiece.
- The Celtics‘ trade for Malcolm Brogdon earned the most votes (28%) for the summer’s most underrated acquisition. The Sixers‘ signing of P.J. Tucker and the Clippers‘ addition of John Wall were the runners-up, with 14% each.
- Asked which team has the most promising young core, NBA GMs overwhelmingly chose the Cavaliers (41%) and Grizzlies (38%). The Pistons (10%) were the only other club to get multiple votes.
- NBA GMs view Magic forward Paolo Banchero as the best bet to win Rookie of the Year (79%) and also chose him as the 2022 draftee most likely to be the best player in five years (31%), narrowly edging Thunder big man Chet Holmgren (28%). As for the steal of the draft, GMs were split between Pistons big man Jalen Duren and Rockets forward Tari Eason (14% apiece), among many others.
- Mavericks star Luka Doncic was picked as the favorite to win MVP, earning 48% of the vote from NBA GMs. Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks came in second with 34%.
The Rockets used a portion of their mid-level exception to give Bruno Fernando a four-year deal and a guaranteed salary of $2,717,391 for the 2022/23 season, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Fernando’s salary will dip to $2,581,522 for 2023/24 before rising back up to $2,717,391 for ’24/25 and increasing to $2,853,260 for ’25/26. As Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets, the second and third years of Fernando’s deal are non-guaranteed, while the fourth year is a team option.
Here are some details on a few more new contracts from around the NBA:
- Tyler Herro‘s four-year extension with the Heat will pay him annual salaries of $27MM, $29MM, $31MM, and $33MM beginning in 2023/24, for a base value of exactly $120MM, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The deal also includes $2.5MM in annual incentives that are currently considered unlikely.
- Larry Nance Jr.‘s two-year extension with the Pelicans will pay him $10,375,000 in 2023/24 and $11,205,000 in ’24/25, tweets Anil Gogna of NoTradeClause.com. Because Nance’s second-year raise exceeds 5%, he’ll be ineligible to be traded during the 2022/23 season.
- Steven Adams‘ two-year extension with the Grizzlies features a flat base salary of $12.6MM in both 2023/24 and ’24/25, with no options or incentives, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Adams’ new deal doesn’t exceed the extend-and-trade limits, so he’ll remain trade-eligible this season.
- As expected, the recent contracts signed by Kaiser Gates (Nets), Brandon Rachal (Nets), and Sacha Killeya-Jones (Thunder) all included Exhibit 10 language.
OCTOBER 2: The Thunder have officially announced the signing of Killeya-Jones (Twitter link).
JULY 26: The Thunder have agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with Sacha Killeya-Jones, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.
The 6’11” big man played six games with the Lakers’ Summer League team, averaging 6.8 PPG and 5.0 RPG in 19.1 MPG.
Killeya-Jones went undrafted in 2020 after passing through three major colleges, including a 14-game stint with Kentucky. He played for Hapoel Gilboa Galil of the Israeli Premier League last season and also suited up for Great Britain at FIBA EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers.
The addition of Killeya-Jones adds to Oklahoma City’s overload of players. As our roster counts page shows, the Thunder already have 19 players under contract and have reportedly reached agreements with four more. Some of their Exhibit 10 signees may end up being quickly waived in order to make room for others.
Killeya-Jones will likely be cut before the regular season begins and could subsequently join the Thunder’s G League team, the Oklahoma City Blue, as an affiliate player. In that scenario, he’d receive a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Blue.
The Thunder have waived Sterling Brown, who was acquired from the Rockets Friday in an eight-player trade, the team announced (via Twitter).
The 27-year-old shooting guard spent last season with the Mavericks, averaging 3.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 49 games while playing 12.8 minutes per night. He was dealt to Houston in June as part 0f the package for Christian Wood.
A second-round pick in 2017, Brown spent his first three NBA seasons in Milwaukee and then one with the Rockets before signing with Dallas last summer. His $3MM contract for the upcoming season is fully guaranteed, so Oklahoma City will be on the hook for that if no one claims him off waivers.
The move brings the Thunder’s roster down to 19 players, so they will have room to add someone else before the cutdown date. The team now has 17 players on guaranteed standard contracts, a number which will need to be reduced to 15 before opening night.
- This year’s No. 2 overall pick, Chet Holmgren, will miss the entire season for the Thunder with a foot injury, but he’s still learning about the NBA while recovering, according to Cliff Brunt of The Associated Press. “What I’m trying to do right now is just kind of soak up all the knowledge of how things are done around here, how they’re going to be done going forward,” Holmgren said. “So when I’m ready to get get back in there, I can just kind of seamlessly plug myself in.”
- In the recently completed eight-player trade that saw Derrick Favors head to Houston, the Rockets received a staggering $6,363,000 in cash from Oklahoma City, per Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter links). That’s the maximum amount of cash a team can send in a trade in 2022/23. The Thunder, meanwhile, generated two traded player exceptions worth $10.18MM (Favors) and $4.22MM (Ty Jerome), Pincus adds.
SEPTEMBER 30: Both teams have announced that the trade is now official. However, the terms of the deal are slightly different than was previously reported.
Instead of Atlanta’s protected 2025 second-round pick, the Rockets will receive a 2026 second-rounder from Oklahoma City. That pick will be the second-most favorable of the Thunder’s, Mavericks’, and Sixers’ 2026 second-round picks. Houston is also receiving cash considerations in the deal.
SEPTEMBER 29, 9:15pm: The Rockets intend to waive Jerome, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Feigen adds that Favors and Maledon are considered the most likely among Houston’s new additions to claim spots on the 15-man regular season roster.
SEPTEMBER 29, 8:13pm: The Thunder have agreed to send center/power forward Derrick Favors, shooting guard Ty Jerome, forward Maurice Harkless, point guard Theo Maledon and the Hawks’ 2025 second-round draft pick (top-40 protected) to the Rockets in exchange for athletic swingman David Nwaba, wing Sterling Brown, point guard Trey Burke and power forward Marquese Chriss, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
As Wojnarowski observes, Oklahoma City will create two trade exceptions in the deal. In pure salary terms, the exchange will help the Thunder get $10MM under the league’s punitive luxury tax cap threshold. Wojnarowski notes that Favors in particular is tradable among the returning players arriving in Houston, as a solid backup big man on an expiring $10.2MM salary.
The 6’9″ Favors, 31, spent most of the last decade as a key role player with several good playoff-bound Jazz teams. Last year with the Thunder, he appeared in just 39 games, averaging 5.3 PPG on 51.6% shooting, plus 4.7 RPG, across 16.7 MPG.
Jerome and Maledon are both young players on modest contracts with remaining potential upside. Harkless, like Favors, is a veteran on an expiring deal.
On the Rockets’ side of the transaction, Houston is acquiring a future second-round draft pick in exchange for taking on some added salary, as Woj details.
According to Kelly Iko of The Athletic (via Twitter) if that Hawks 2025 second-rounder lands in the top 40 and is protected, Houston will instead receive the second-best of the Thunder’s, Mavericks’, and Sixers’ 2026 second-round picks.
Given that No. 2 draft pick Chet Holmgren has been ruled out for the year with a Lisfranc injury in his right foot, and with the best player in this new trade being sent away from the team, it appears the Thunder are once again prioritizing a year of youthful development, as they look to the 2023 draft lottery to build out their impressive young roster.
Oklahoma City added four rookies in the 2022 draft, including two additional lottery picks beyond Holmgren. The Thunder have been in full-on rebuild mode since the end of the 2019/20 season, winning a total of 46 games over the last two years.
Houston has also been in the asset-collection and draft lottery-targeting phase of its journey since 2020. The team went 37-127 from 2020-22. This year, the Rockets drafted intriguing rookie power forward Jabari Smith with the third pick out of Auburn. They also made two other selections in the first round.
It appears unlikely that every player in this deal will be with their new clubs when the regular season opens. Bobby Marks of ESPN (via Twitter) notes that both teams will still have 18 guaranteed contracts on their books following this deal. Per league rules, they’ll each need to get down to 15 players by October 17.