- Is Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the best non-All-Star in the league? Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman tackles that subject.
- While there was a sense the asking price could have been brought down, the Thunder were believed to be seeking a first-round pick for Vasilije Micic‘s NBA rights before he decided to remain with Anadolu Efes, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. “I think that was where it was a little too much for teams,” one Western Conference executive told Deveney. “No one wanted to give up a pick plus everything else it would take. The guy can play, I think he’d be good in the NBA. But no one wanted to give up picks and money for him.” Deveney suggests Micic would’ve sought a salary in the $6-7MM range and a sizable rotation role in order to make the move to the NBA.
Nets superstar Kevin Durant has apologized for comments he made about disliking playing for former Thunder coach Billy Donovan, but the Bulls still probably don’t have the assets to trade for him, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. Donovan coached Durant in Oklahoma City during the 2015/16 season.
The Bulls can offer DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Patrick Williams and draft capital for Durant, as Cowley notes, but the Nets likely wouldn’t be interested. Brooklyn is reportedly seeking a historic haul for Durant, an All-NBA forward who has four seasons left on his contract.
While Chicago probably won’t find a way to enter the Durant sweepstakes, the team did bolster its bench this offseason by signing veterans Goran Dragic and Andre Drummond, both of whom played for the Nets last season. The club dealt with several injuries and finished with the sixth-best record in the East at 46-36 last season.
There’s more out of the Eastern Conference tonight:
- Sean Deveney of Heavy.com examines Vasilije Micic‘s situation and why he may have decided against making the move to the NBA. Micic, whose draft rights are held by the Thunder, registered trade interest from multiple NBA teams, including the Bulls, as Deveney notes, but ultimately chose to stay in Turkey. The 28-year-old could still join the NBA down the road.
- Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is still hungry to accomplish much more during his career, as Kurt Helin of NBC Sports writes. Antetokounmpo is entering his 10th NBA season, owning one championship ring, two MVP awards and many more accolades to date. “I’m an old soul,” Antetokounmpo said as part of a larger quote. “Like, in my mind I feel like I’ve been a vet five years now. But like my body… I have so much energy. I’m so hungry to accomplish more. I want to go out there and help you know my team in the best way possible. And a lot of people know that I’m a winner. I love to win. I love to go out there and leave everything on the court.”
- Travis Roach of The Oklahoman warns that the Thunder‘s desire to build a new arena doesn’t come with guaranteed economic benefits.
- Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman examines multiple Thunder-related topics in his mailbag, including notes related to Chet Holmgren and which players he’d protect in a hypothetical expansion draft. Oklahoma City is continuing a full-scale rebuild, having finished just 24-58 last season.
The new contract that veteran forward/center Mike Muscala signed with the Thunder is essentially identical to the one he signed with the team in 2021, Hoops Rumors has learned.
Muscala’s new deal covers two years and has matching $3.5MM cap hits in each of those two seasons for a total of $7MM. The first year is guaranteed, while the second year is a team option. All of those details also applied to the two-year, $7MM contract he signed in ’21.
The Thunder chose to decline Muscala’s $3.5MM team option for 2022/23 back in June, but will now pay him that exact salary next season, with another $3.5MM team option for ’23/24. Since Oklahoma City had Muscala’s Bird rights, the club didn’t have to dip into its mid-level exception to complete the signing.
Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts from around the NBA:
- James Harden‘s new two-year contract with the Sixers will pay him exactly $33MM in 2022/23 and includes a 2023/24 player option worth $35.64MM. The two-year, $68.64MM pact includes a 15% trade kicker.
- The training camp contracts that Norvel Pelle and Isaiah Miller signed with the Trail Blazers include Exhibit 10 language. That gives Portland the option of converting either contract into a two-way deal before the regular season begins.
- The new two-way contracts signed by Duane Washington (Suns) and Trent Forrest (Hawks) are each just for one season.
- The Spurs are turning a page with the departure of shooting coach Chip Engelland, Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News writes. Engelland spent 17 years with the Spurs under Gregg Popovich, having a major impact on the team’s overall success and culture. He recently agreed to join the Thunder.
- As part of his latest mailbag for The Oklahoman, Joe Mussatto explores whether the Thunder can make a push for the play-in tournament next season. Oklahoma City has a young core of Josh Giddey, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and others, one that’ll most likely improve as time goes on. The team finished just 24-58 last season.
Retired shooting guard Jamal Crawford reflected on his 20-year NBA run in a conversation with Bryan Kalbrosky of USA Today. Earlier this summer, the 6’5″ vet, a three-time Sixth Man of the Year, showed off his still-lethal handle at his yearly Seattle-based Pro-Am league the CrawsOver.
“I would always stretch and ice even if nothing was hurting,” Crawford, now 42, said of one of the keys to his longevity in the league. “I heard an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of recovery. I was always taking care of myself… I was always trying to think about the long game so I could play at a high level for a long time… I would’ve played even longer if I knew the stuff I know now.”
Across 1,327 career games played with the Bulls, Knicks, Warriors, Hawks, Trail Blazers, Clippers, Timberwolves, Suns and Nets, Crawford averaged 14.6 PPG, 3.4 APG and 2.2 RPG, while posting shooting splits of .410/.348/.862.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball globe:
- After flirting with a move to the NBA this summer, star EuroLeague guard Vasilije Micic opted to remain with Anadolu Efes in Turkey. The Thunder continue to possess the draft rights to the two-time reigning EuroLeague Final Four MVP, who spoke to Rada Nikolić August of Sport Klub about his offseason decision . “I felt a slight mistrust from the direction of the strongest league in the world, which they have towards many, not only me,” Micic said, though he seemed open to keeping the door open to an eventual move stateside. “I really don’t think I’m going there to prove what and how much I can do. It’s nice like this for me, so if I go to America one day, it will happen…” Last year, the 28-year-old averaged 18.1 PPG, 4.7 APG, 2.3 RPG, and 1.1 SPG across 28 contests with Anadolu Efes in EuroLeague play.
- New Bulls reserve point guard Goran Dragic is set to return to competition for his native Slovenia in EuroBasket 2022 this September, as he announced via Twitter. “I’M BACK,” the 36-year-old posted, along with a variety of descriptive emojis. Dragic had previously retired from playing for Slovenia in 2017, after helping the national club win its first-ever FIBA European championship in EuroBasket play. Dragic won the EuroBasket MVP award for his efforts, averaging 22.6 PPG in nine games. Dragic joined Chicago this summer following turns with the Raptors and Nets in 2021/22.
The Thunder have officially signed veteran big man Mike Muscala, the team announced in a press release today. Oklahoma City originally agreed to re-sign the 31-year-old during the initial hours of free agency on June 30 and now has a full 20-man offseason roster.
Muscala, 6’10”, played 43 games with the Thunder last season. He averaged 8.0 points and 3.0 rebounds, playing 13.8 minutes per contest. He also shot 45.6% from the floor and 42.9% from deep.
As of now, Muscala is the oldest player on Oklahoma City’s roster. He and Derrick Favors, also 31, can serve as mentors to young players such as Josh Giddey, Chet Holmgren and Aleksej Pokusevski — whether on the court or in the locker room.
Muscala first joined the Thunder as a free agent in 2019. Before that, he was drafted No. 44 overall in 2013 and played for the Hawks, Sixers and Lakers. He’s expected to provide frontcourt depth for a team that finished just 24-58 last season.
Assuming Muscala signed a fully guaranteed contract, he’s the 17th Thunder player with a guaranteed salary for 2022/23. Vit Krejci also has a partial guarantee, so the team will have to trade or release three players before opening night to get down to the 15-man regular season limit.
Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is looking forward to representing Serbia on the basketball court for the first time in three years, writes Johnny Askounis of EuroHoops. The two-time MVP will join the national team for a pair of 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifying games, hosting Greece August 25 and traveling to Turkey August 28.
“I feel great, similar to every time I reunite with these guys. I just met some of them,” Jokic said in advance of the Serbian team’s training camp. “We are preparing, we just started and we will see how far we can go. Up first are the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers and the goal of helping Serbia qualify to the World Cup.”
Jokic also plans to participate in EuroBasket next month, and he could return for both the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics if Serbia qualifies. Jokic cited a special pride in being able to play for his home nation.
“It means a lot, I talked with my family, it’s a totally different feeling when you play for the national team,” Jokic said. “I felt different when I came here than when I go to Denver.”
There’s more international news to pass along:
- Another MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and his brother and Bucks teammate, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, are in Athens waiting to join the Greek team for training camp, per Aris Barkas of EuroHoops. An agreement limits NBA players to 28 days of preparation before major FIBA tournaments and 14 days before the Olympics. The other Antetokounmpo brothers, Alex and Kostas, are already training with Greece. New Mavericks signee Tyler Dorsey is under the same restrictions as Giannis and Thanasis and can’t start training until Thursday.
- Heat center Omer Yurtseven elected not to join the Turkish national team’s training camp in Italy, but he didn’t inform team officials of his decision or seek permission in advance, according to a EuroHoops report. The decision was made by Yurtseven rather than the Heat, the story adds, as the rookie center chose to stay in Miami and focus on preparing for training camp. The report notes that Yurtseven was suspended for eight games in 2018 for skipping national team activities without providing notice.
- Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski and Heat rookie Nikola Jovic were denied permission by their respective teams to join Serbia for EuroBasket and the World Cup qualifiers, Askounis states in a separate story. Hawks forward Bogdan Bogdanovic is also unavailable because he’s recovering from knee surgery.