Happy Friday and welcome to your OKC Thunder daily in the news column serving up topical stories on your favorite team.
The NBA announced the All-NBA teams yesterday with OKC Thunder star Russell Westbrook logically earning First Team All NBA.
There will always be arguments over who did or didn’t make the list, but only one player felt miscast in this scribes humble opinion (DeAndre Jordan). Any of Marc Gasol, Karl-Anthony Towns, or even DeMarcus Cousins were more deserving.
Yet, the big news was the omission of Paul George and Gordon Hayward. The immediate after effects may have overarching effects.
Costly Omission:
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst details the magnitude of this situation for George and the Pacers.
"Had George made one of the three teams, he would have qualified for the new Designated Player Extension that is part of the new collective bargaining agreement that starts July 1. That designation would’ve allowed the Pacers to offer George the richest contract in NBA history — and add up to five years and approximately $210 million to his contract.That is about $75 million more than another team could guarantee George were he to sign elsewhere if he opted for free agency in 2018. This new provision was built into the system following Kevin Durant‘s departure from the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency last summer."
Full Team Lists:
Thunderous Intentions offers the full 15 player, 3 team lists in our article.
"As per the above NBA statement, fans will have to wait until the night the individual awards are handed out to find out where each sportswriter/broadcaster voted. Of most interest is who deemed Russell Westbrook and LeBron James unworthy of the first team. Was it the same person?And, which 4 scribes didn’t recognize Kawhi Leonard (apologies to LeBron James) is the best 2-way player in the Association. As much as Westbrook and Thunder fans have reason to be annoyed at that one ballot submission, whoever put Leonard on the third team seems to have missed the boat. Certainly it can’t be because he mouthed off to the scribe."
All-Time All-NBA:
NBA.com offers an interesting article looking back through the years of All-NBA teams. Pick your favorite year. This was was extremely appealing given how many Dream Team members make the All-NBA teams. Notably this season still only awarded two teams. Have a peek and pick your favorite year.
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
"1987-88FIRST TEAMF: Charles Barkley F: Larry Bird C: Hakeem Olajuwon G: Michael Jordan G: Magic JohnsonSECOND TEAMF: Karlm Malone F: Dominique Wilkins C: Patrick Ewing G: John Stockton G: Clyde Drexler"
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