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And-Ones: Gudaitis, Beaubois, Paul, Robinson, Curry, King

July 7th, 2020 at 7:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lithuanian center Arturas Gudaitis is expected to leave Olimpia Milano and join Zenit St. Petersburg next season, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Gudaitis, who played 19 games last season with Olimpia Milano and averaged 7.3 PPG and 4.4 RPG, had been signed through next season with the Italian club. The Sixers used a 2015 second-round pick on Gudaitis but he has never appeared in an NBA regular-season game. The Cavaliers acquired his rights in 2018 via a three-way trade with the Kings and Jazz.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • Former Mavericks guard Rodrigue Beaubois has reached a two-year contract extension with his Turkish club Anadolu Efes, Misko Raznatovic tweets. Beaubois, 32, hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2012/13 season. Last season, the French guard averaged 11.1 PPG over 43 games.
  • Chris Paul has made a strong impression as NBA Players Association president, as Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman details. Players Association executive director Michele Roberts indicates that not all superstar players like the Thunder point guard command the same respect. “I won’t name any names, but there have been other marquee players that have been on the executive committee,” Roberts said. “They haven’t come close, they haven’t come close to providing and demonstrating a level of commitment and time that Chris has. And he’s not only just there, he’s engaged, he understands the issues. … He does insist on hearing all sides, and he brings in the other players.”
  • Joe Johnson, Mario Chalmers, Nate Robinson and Eddy Curry are among the former NBA players slated to participate in 3-on-3 pay-per-view tournament later this month, Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype tweets. The “5 Tournament” is scheduled to take place July 19-29, just before the NBA’s planned restart.
  • Former Suns two-way player George King has signed with Bundesliga’s Chemnitz 99ers, Nicola Lupo of Sportando tweets. King, who appeared in one game with the Suns in 2018/19, played in Italy and Poland last season.
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No Positive Tests For Thunder

July 2nd, 2020 at 6:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • While 25 players around the NBA have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since June 23, there have been no positive tests among Thunder players and staff members, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman reports. All players have returned to Oklahoma City for mandatory individual workouts and the team will fly to Orlando next week.
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Roberson Participating In Workouts; Chesapeake Energy Co. Goes Bankrupt

July 2nd, 2020 at 11:08am CST by Luke Adams
  • Thunder forward Andre Roberson, who hasn’t played in an NBA game in two-and-a-half years, has been participating in individual workouts at the club’s practice facility, head coach Billy Donovan told reporters on Wednesday (link via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman). Roberson’s availability for the restart will be determined after the team sees him in action in five-on-five workouts.
  • Chesapeake Energy Corporation, the company that owns the naming rights for the Thunder‘s arena, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, as Royce Young of ESPN writes. Chesapeake’s agreement with the Thunder runs through the 2022/23 season — it’s not clear how that deal will be affected by the company’s bankruptcy.
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And-Ones: Luxury Tax, Thomas, Scola, Top Defenders

July 1st, 2020 at 12:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Trail Blazers have the highest luxury tax bill at $5.9MM, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Team salaries are now frozen after the one-week transactions period that closed late Tuesday. The Heat ($2.9MM), Thunder ($2.5MM) and Timberwolves ($582K) are also over the luxury tax line but the projected $11.9MM total is the lowest since the luxury tax was introduced in 2002/03, Marks notes.

We have more from around the basketball world:

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Thunder Look To Reassert Defensive Identity

June 30th, 2020 at 9:06pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Thunder are slated to return to NBA action on August 1 against the Jazz in the NBA’s Orlando bubble restart, and that date will be an opportunity for OKC to reassert itself as a top defensive squad, per Nick Gallo of OKCThunder.com.

Throughout their first 64 games in 2019/20, the Thunder ranked among the league’s upper third across several defensive categories, Gallo goes on to observe. These impressive top-10 rankings included slotting first in opponent fast-break points (10.5 per game), first in opponent free throw attempts (18.6 per game), sixth in three-point defense (34.4% allowed) and ninth in defensive rating (108.4 points per 100 possessions). At 40-24, the Thunder are currently the No. 5 seed in the crowded West.

The starriest new Thunder acquisition for the 2019/20 season, All-Star point guard Chris Paul, observed that the team’s strength is not just predicated on their athletic prowess. “You can’t just have the athleticism,” Paul said. “You can be as tall as you want to and all that stuff but guys that know how to play are going to manipulate the game on you so the only way you can get that knowledge is to study it and watch games.”

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Thunder Sign Devon Hall

June 28th, 2020 at 9:10am CST by Luke Adams

JUNE 28: Hall has been added to the roster as a substitute player, filling one of the Thunder’s 17 roster spots for the summer, the team announced in a press release.

JUNE 25: Having promoted Luguentz Dort to their 15-man roster, the Thunder intend to sign guard Devon Hall to fill their newly-opened two-way contract slot, reports Erik Horne of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Hall, who was on a two-way deal with the Thunder early in the 2019/20 season, was waived back in December, but remained with the team’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. In 30 total NBAGL games (31.4 MPG) this season, he averaged 15.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 4.1 APG on .455/.360/.860 shooting.

Typically, teams aren’t allowed to sign players to two-way contracts any later than January 15. However, given the unusual circumstances surrounding the interrupted 2019/20 season and the NBA’s return-to-play plan, the league is permitting the 22 clubs going to Orlando this summer to fill both of their two-way contract slots this summer for depth purposes.

Hall’s familiarity with the organization makes him a good fit as an insurance policy for the Thunder, who will be able to sign him anytime after noon on Saturday. He’ll get a rest-of-season two-way deal and will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

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Pelicans-Jazz Begins NBA Restart On July 30

June 26th, 2020 at 6:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pelicans and rookie star Zion Williamson will face the Jazz on July 30 at 6:30 p.m. ET in the first game of the NBA’s restart, the league announced on Friday.

There will be 88 “seeding” games from July 30 to August 14 prior to the postseason.

The Clippers will square off against the Lakers in the second game on July 30 at 9 p.m. ET. The first two games will be broadcast by TNT.

It will get very busy the next day with six games scheduled, highlighted by Celtics vs. Bucks and Rockets vs. Mavericks. There will be a maximum of seven games per day, with start times ranging from 12-9 p.m.

At the conclusion of the seeding games, the seven teams in each conference with the highest combined winning percentages across regular-season games and seeding games will be the first through seventh seeds for the conference playoffs.  If the team with the eighth-best combined winning percentage (regular-season games and seeding games) in a conference is more than four games ahead of the team with the ninth-best combined winning percentage in the same conference, then the team with the eighth-best winning percentage would be the No. 8 seed.

If the team with the eighth-best combined winning percentage in a conference is four games or fewer ahead of the team with the ninth-best combined winning percentage in the same conference, then those two teams would compete in a play-in tournament to determine the No. 8 playoff seed in the conference.  The play-in tournament will be double elimination for the eighth-place team and single elimination for the ninth-place team.

Much of the intrigue regarding the seeding games concerns the final Western Conference spot. The Grizzlies, currently eighth, hold a 3 1/2-game lead over the Trail Blazers, Pelicans and Kings, a four-game lead over the Spurs and a six-game advantage on the Suns.

Memphis will face the Blazers, Spurs, Pelicans, Jazz, Thunder, Raptors, Celtics and Bucks during the seeding round. Among the Grizzlies’ pursuers, the Pelicans appear to have the weakest schedule. After opening against the Jazz, they’ll face the Clippers, Grizzlies, Kings (twice), Wizards, Spurs and Magic.

The Nets and Magic need only to hold off the Wizards in the East to claim the final two spots in their conference. Washington trails Brooklyn by six games and Orlando by 5 1/2 games.

The breakdown of each team’s seeding schedule can be found here. The day-by-day schedule and national TV schedule can be found here.

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Batum, DeRozan Among Players With Earlier Option Decision Deadlines

June 26th, 2020 at 3:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Most veterans who have player options in their contracts for the 2020/21 season will have an October 17 deadline to either exercise or decline that option. That Saturday represents the second-last day of the 2019/20 league year under the NBA’s new calendar, meaning it would coincide in a normal year with June 29, the usual player option decision deadline.

However, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, some of the players who have to make option decisions for 2020/21 have slightly earlier deadlines. For instance, if the Spurs don’t make the postseason, DeMar DeRozan will be required to make his decision within seven days of the team’s last game, per Marks.

The full list of player options for ’20/21 can be found on our free agents page, but here are the options which must be exercised or declined before October 17, according to Marks:

The rest of this season’s player option decisions must be made by October 17, a deadline that applies to nearly every team option for 2020/21 as well. The only team options with earlier decision dates are minimum-salary ones for Deonte Burton (Thunder) and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (Pistons), which are due by October 15, per Marks.

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Thunder Sign Luguentz Dort To Multiyear Contract

June 24th, 2020 at 7:08pm CST by Luke Adams

7:08pm: The Thunder have locked up Dort to a four-year, $5.4MM deal, per Royce Young of ESPN (Twitter link). The first year is the remainder of the current season, prorated at $155,647. The 2020/21 season is fully guaranteed, while the last two years of the deal have partial guarantees, says Young.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link) notes that the Thunder will now pay $2.4MM in luxury tax penalties, up from $2MM before the Dort deal.

1:35pm: The Thunder have moved two-way player Luguentz Dort to their 15-man roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed him to a multiyear contract.

Dort, 21, emerged as a crucial part of Oklahoma City’s rotation in January, starting each of the team’s last 21 games before the season was suspended — the Thunder went 16-5 in those contests.

For the season, the former Arizona State swingman has averaged 6.2 PPG and 1.9 RPG on .414/.301/.778 shooting in 29 games (22.0 MPG). Those shooting numbers increased to .430/.357/.870 following his promotion to the starting lineup.

While the NBA has loosened its restrictions on two-way players participating in the postseason for this summer, completing a standard contract this week seemed like the logical outcome for Dort and the Thunder. The team had an open spot on its 15-man roster and will now no longer have to compete with rival suitors to re-sign the young wing in restricted free agency this fall.

Moving Dort to the 15-man squad will also allow the Thunder to sign a two-way player to replace him, as of Saturday. That player would become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, but could provide insurance for OKC in Orlando this summer in the event of an injury, a positive COVID-19 test, or another development that compromises the team’s depth.

Details of Dort’s new contract aren’t yet known, but the Thunder still have a good portion of their taxpayer mid-level exception left. They’d be able to offer well above the minimum and could lock up Dort for up to two additional seasons beyond 2019/20.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Decision Time For Thunder, Dort

June 24th, 2020 at 10:09am CST by Luke Adams
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