- Unlike the Sixers, who recently announced their plans for a privately funded arena development project, the Thunder will likely be seeking public funds when they begin formally working on a new arena of their own, writes Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman (subscription required). As Carlson writes, the franchise can use the threat of relocation as leverage to seek money from the city, whereas that approach wouldn’t work in Philadelphia. Carlson estimates that we’re probably still eight to 10 years away from the Paycom Center being replaced.
- In his latest mailbag for The Oklahoman, Joe Mussatto discusses Theo Maledon‘s tenuous future with the Thunder, whether Darius Bazley or Derrick Favors will still be on the team by season’s end, and Vasilije Micic‘s trade value. Mussatto believes Oklahoma City should be willing to trade Micic’s rights for a single second-round pick, since he gets the sense the EuroLeague star is using the threat of a move to the NBA to earn bigger contracts overseas.
David McCormack has signed with Besiktas in Turkey, according to a team press release. McCormack was reportedly signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Timberwolves but apparently chose to begin his pro career in Europe.
The undrafted big man out of Kansas was a prominent member of the Jayhawks’ national championship team. He spent all four of his college seasons at Kansas, starting 96 of 132 total games. In 2021/22, he averaged 10.6 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 40 contests (21.9 MPG).
We have more from around the basketball world:
- A total of 10 teams are currently projected to collectively spend $650MM in luxury tax payments next season, according to Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. That would an NBA record for tax penalties. The Warriors, Nets, Clippers, Bucks, Lakers, Sixers, Celtics, Suns, Nuggets and Mavericks all project as taxpayer teams for the time being.
- The G League’s Oklahoma City Blue will continue to play the Thunder’s Paycom Center next season, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman reports. The Blue also played there last season, having been the only G League team to host their games in an NBA arena. They often had to play late morning or early afternoon games with the Thunder playing there on the same night.
- Former NBA swingman Andrew Harrison has signed with Yukatel Merkezefendi Belediyesi in Turkey, as JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors relays (Twitter link). Harrison has suited up with the Grizzlies, Cavaliers and Pelicans during his NBA career. In his last NBA season, he played a combined 16 games with Cleveland and New Orleans in 2018/19.
Undrafted free agent rookie Gabe Brown is signing an Exhibit 10 contract to go to training camp with the Nuggets, according to Adam Zagoria of NJ.com (Twitter link).
Brown, who declared for the draft this spring after spending four years at Michigan State, became a full-time starter for the Spartans as a senior in 2021/22, averaging 11.6 PPG and 3.8 RPG with a .382 3PT% in 36 games (28.9 MPG). His performance earned him a spot on the All-Big 10 Third Team.
Brown suited up for the Thunder‘s Summer League team this month, recording 11.0 PPG and 3.5 RPG on .421/.370/1.000 shooting in four Las Vegas contests (21.8 MPG).
Zagoria reported last month that Brown would be signing a “partially guaranteed” contract with Oklahoma City and Jake Weingarten of StockRisers.com later said it would be an Exhibit 10 deal, but based on Zagoria’s newest report, it seems as if that deal fell through.
An Exhibit 10 is a one-year, non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract that counts toward a team’s 20-man offseason roster limit, but doesn’t count against the cap unless the player makes the regular season roster. It can be converted into a two-way contract or can make a player eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived and joins his team’s G League affiliate.
Denver doesn’t currently have a two-way slot available, so the team may envision Brown as an affiliate player for the Grand Rapids Gold.
Kevin Pelton, Nick Friedell, Kendra Andrews, Ohm Youngmisuk and Jamal Collier of ESPN all expect Kevin Durant to be on the Nets’ roster to start next season, but four of the five think Donovan Mitchell will begin the 2022/23 season with the Knicks.
The ESPN colleagues, who discussed a handful of lingering offseason questions, unanimously agreed that Carmelo Anthony will be on an NBA roster at some point next season, though it might not be by training camp.
Pelton believes that the Warriors signing free agent Donte DiVincenzo to a two-year, $9.3MM deal with a player option might be the “steal of the summer” if the 25-year-old is healthy and regains his prior form. DiVincenzo struggled a bit last season after a major ankle injury required surgery during the 2021 playoffs, but he could be a bounce-back candidate for the defending champions.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Thon Maker has signed with China’s Fujian Sturgeons, according to Sportando. Maker appeared in 263 NBA games from 2016-21 with the Bucks, Pistons and Cavaliers, holding career averages of 4.6 PPG and 2.8 RPG in 13.8 MPG. He spent last season with Israeli club Hapoel Jerusalem, but only appeared in six games.
- The Athletic’s staff handed out grades to all 30 NBA teams for their offseason work so far. The Nets, Hornets, Lakers, Knicks and Jazz all received an “incomplete” for various reasons, mostly roster uncertainty. Only one team, the Heat, received a grade below a B-minus, with John Hollinger giving them a “C” for losing P.J. Tucker and not finding a suitable replacement at power forward. The two teams with the highest grades? The Nuggets and Thunder, who both received an “A” for their offseason work. The Nuggets gave back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic a super-max extension, traded for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and signed Bruce Brown in free agency, a couple of two-way wings who should complement Jokic’s game nicely, per Dave DuFour. As for the Thunder, Andrew Schlecht says the primary reason they deserve an “A” is for drafting Chet Holmgren with the No. 2 overall pick last month.
- Longtime Sixers executive Vince Rozman will join the Thunder as vice president of identification and intelligence, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Thunder are hiring longtime Spurs assistant coach Chip Engelland as an assistant on Mark Daigneault‘s staff, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Engelland has spent the last 17 years in San Antonio under Gregg Popovich after beginning his coaching career as a shooting consultant with the Pistons (1999-2000) and a player development coach with the Nuggets (2003-05).
As Wojnarowski writes, Engelland is widely viewed as the NBA’s top shooting coach and is thought to have had a significant impact on players like Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard during his time with the Spurs. He has a preexisting relationship with Thunder head of basketball operations Sam Presti, who previously worked in San Antonio’s front office.
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report tweeted earlier this month that Engelland was leaving the Spurs “at the conclusion of his contract” — while Fischer’s report didn’t make it clear, it sounds as if Engelland’s contract expired this offseason, clearing a path for him to accept a new position in Oklahoma City.
The Spurs and Engelland, who has long been one of the NBA’s highest-paid assistants, couldn’t agree to terms on a new deal, Wojnarowski explains.
In his new role, Engelland will have the opportunity to work with a promising young Thunder core that includes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Chet Holmgren, Luguentz Dort, Jalen Williams, and Ousmane Dieng, among others.
Kenrich Williams‘ new four-year extension with the Thunder came in at a total value of $27,170,000, Hoops Rumors has learned. Williams will earn $6,175,000 in 2023/24 when the extension goes into effect, then $6,669,000 in ’24/25. His final two years are each worth $7,163,000, with a team option on the ’26/27 season.
In other Thunder cap news, JaMychal Green gave up $2,628,597 in his buyout agreement with the team. As our chart of minimum salaries shows, that’s the exact amount an eight-year veteran like Green would earn on a minimum contract, which is what he’ll reportedly sign with Golden State.
Here are a few more salary notes from around the NBA:
- The Pacers took advantage of their cap room by giving second-round pick Andrew Nembhard a contract with a declining structure. His four-year deal begins at $2,244,111 this season, then dips to $2,131,905 in 2023/24 and $2,019,699 in ’24/25 before increasing to the ’25/26 minimum of $2,187,451. The first three years are guaranteed, while the fourth is a team option.
- The Timberwolves used a portion of their mid-level exception to sign second-rounder Josh Minott to a four-year, minimum-salary contract. It’s fully guaranteed for the first two years and non-guaranteed for the last two. Minott’s third-year salary would become guaranteed if he’s not waived by June 28, 2024, and the fourth year is a team option. Minnesota now only has about $692K left on its mid-level exception, which could potentially be used very late in the season to sign a player to a three- or four-year minimum-salary deal.
- The Timberwolves‘ minimum-salary contract with Austin Rivers is only partially guaranteed for $650K. It would become fully guaranteed if he remains on the roster through the league-wide salary guarantee date in January.
JULY 20: Green has officially been waived by the Thunder, the team announced (via Twitter). He will clear waivers on Friday.
JULY 19: Veteran forward JaMychal Green is negotiating a contract buyout with the Thunder, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Once it is completed and he clears waivers, Green intends to sign with the defending champion Warriors.
Oklahoma City had sought to deal Green after acquiring him from the Nuggets last month. That didn’t happen and now Green is looking to help Golden State defend its latest title.
Green, 32, is at the stage of his career where he provides greater value to a contender than a rebuilding team. He’s on an $8.2MM expiring contract for 2022/23.
On a veteran’s minimum deal for a player with eight years of service, Green can sign with the Warriors for $2,628,597. Golden State’s cap hit would be $1,836,090, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
Golden State only has 11 players on its 15-man roster, along with two unsigned second-round picks. Thus, there’s plenty of roster room for the Warriors to bring in Green.
Denver dealt Green to the Thunder in June. The Nuggets also sent a protected 2027 first-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for the draft rights to No. 30 pick Peyton Watson and two second-rounders (one in 2023 and one in 2024).
Green had a down year in 2021/22, averaging 6.4 PPG and 4.2 RPG on .486/.266/.871 shooting in 67 games (16.2 MPG) for the Nuggets, but has proven to be an effective stretch four over the years. Entering ’21/22, he had knocked down 38.0% of his three-point attempts in his first seven NBA seasons.
He’ll provide depth for Golden State at power forward behind Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga.
Oklahoma City is still in the process of paring down its overloaded roster. The team will have 19 players officially under contract once Green is officially cut.
JULY 20: The Thunder have officially finalized Williams’ extension, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 18: The Thunder have reached an agreement with forward Kenrich Williams on a four-year contract extension worth $27.2MM, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Williams, who will earn $2MM this season, is in the final year of his current contract, so his new deal will begin a year from now and will run through the 2026/27 campaign. His $2MM salary for ’22/23 had been non-guaranteed, but it’ll become protected as part of the extension agreement, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
According to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (Twitter link), the first three years of the extension will be guaranteed, while the fourth will be a team option.
Williams, 27, is an unlikely extension recipient. The veteran swingman, who began his college career at New Mexico Junior College and went undrafted in 2018, spent his first two professional seasons with the Pelicans before being signed-and-traded to Oklahoma City in the Steven Adams deal during the 2020 offseason as a throw-in piece for salary-matching purposes.
After shooting just .371/.304/.489 in 85 games with New Orleans, Williams developed a more reliable three-point shot in Oklahoma City, boosting his shooting percentages to .501/.391/.559 in 115 games over the last two seasons. He’s also a solid, versatile defender who has now averaged 21-plus minutes per game for four straight years.
Williams is the eight player to agree to a veteran contract extension so far during the 2022/23 league year, as our tracker shows.
Because his extension exceeds three total years (including the one left on his current deal), Williams will be ineligible to be traded for six months once he officially signs his deal.
After winning back-to-back EuroLeague titles with Anadolu Efes, Serbian guard Vasilije Micic will return to the Turkish team for the 2022/23 season, his agent Misko Raznatovic announced today on Twitter.
Micic, who was named the Final Four MVP in both 2021 and 2022 and was also the EuroLeague’s Most Valuable Player in ’21, has talked repeatedly this year about his desire to make the move to the NBA. However, his draft rights are held by the Thunder, so he wouldn’t be free to sign with any team if he comes stateside.
According to reports, Micic’s representatives had hoped the Thunder would traded the 28-year-old’s rights so that he could join a team closer to contention. The Nuggets, Bucks, Bulls, and Spurs were said to be among the clubs with some interest. However, Oklahoma City values Micic and didn’t want to just give him away — apparently, the team couldn’t find a deal it liked.
Micic already had a contract with Anadolu Efes for 2022/23, so no new agreement is necessary. If he had decided to sign an NBA contract this offseason, he could have been bought out of his deal with the Turkish club.
Although Raznatovic’s tweet doesn’t provide any clues about his client’s intentions beyond ’22/23, it’s probably safe to assume Micic will consider a move to the NBA again next summer — especially if the Thunder trade his rights between now and then.