OKC Thunder in the news: Kanter grounded, Klay a year after, McDermott review

Hope OKC Thunder fans are enjoying their weekend. The daily OKC Thunder in the news column is here to serve up the hottest topics about your favorite team.

Today’s OKC Thunder offerings include a great article explaining what the arrest warrant means for Enes Kanter travel plans, a year after Klay Thompson dashed the Thunder’s title hopes new insight into what that day meant and Doug McDermott’s season review.

What Turkey’s arrest warrant means for Enes Kanter:

Enes Kanter continued to occupy headlines with news the Turkish government issued a warrant for his arrest. Michael McCann of The Crossover examined precisely what that means for Kanter in terms of traveling.

Ultimately, as long as Kanter remains in North America he will be out of Turkey’s jurisdiction. But, what this means in the short term is country-less Kanter will likely be unable to travel and most certainly unable to continue his global philanthropic tour as long as his passport and citizenship remain unsolved.

"Although Kanter might dismiss the Turkish arrest warrant as toothless, he faces the more impactful problem of being a man without a country.Kanter is a Turkish citizen whose Turkish passport has been cancelled. He would also face arrest upon entering Turkey. Even worse, Kanter says he has received death threats from those who are opposed to his political views. It is not surprising, then, that Kanter appears interested in becoming a U.S. citizen. He has told media, “I feel like this is my home now.”The good news for Kanter is that can remain in the U.S. indefinitely and continue his NBA career. Kanter has a U.S. green card, which makes him a permanent resident of the U.S. A green card is superior to a visa, which would only allow Kanter to remain in the U.S. for a specific time and purpose."

Klay Thompson’s game 6 a year later:

Not to rub salt in an open wound, but Tim Kawakami of The Mercury News reminds us it was a year ago Saturday, Klay Thompson exploded in game 6 of the conference finals.

"And those were probably the exact details necessary to draw Kevin Durant from the Thunder to the Warriors in July, which ended the Thunder’s tenure as a chief NBA title contender and kept the Warriors from having to decide whether to pay Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli large long-term dollars, among many other developments.Did the Warriors sense the weight of all of this, even before Game 6 against Durant’s Thunder a year ago?“Somewhere in the back of your mind you’re definitely thinking, ‘hey, if we lose this, there’s no shot (at Durant),” Draymond Green recalled recently."

These words sure don’t make things feel any better a year later. But clearly based on Draymond Green’s words Durant moving to Oakland was always in play.

Doug McDermott Season Review:

Continuing the Thunderous Intentions player season reviews the next one up is Doug McDermott. Initially McBuckets inconsistency stood out, but looking back at his Bulls days their massive roster turnover likely played a role in his inconsistency. Here’s the full review.

"Sure, plenty of quality NCAA players haven’t been able to transfer their skill set to the pro level. Yet, in this instance it may be unfair to jump to that conclusionOf the many factors which play a role in a player and team’s success roster consistency is near the top. Knowing that, consider this fact —at season start only 3 players from McDermott’s rookie season remained on the Bulls- Gibson, Nikola Mirotec and Jimmy Butler. Moreover, in two seasons of play he’d been exposed to two vastly different coaches in Tom Thibodeau and Fred Hoiberg."

More from Thunderous Intentions

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