Happy Saturday and welcome to your OKC Thunder daily in the news column serving up topical stories on your favorite team.
Today’s offerings examine Nick Collison’s future, an excellent free agent option and Tony Heim voicing the question on every OKC Thunder fans mind.
Collison’s Future:
Nick Collison enters free agency with uncertainty about whether he’ll be back with the OKC Thunder next season. After spending the entirety of his career with this franchise (counting his time in Seattle prior to the move to OKC) it sure would be odd to not see him on the Thunder’s bench.
Fred Katz of the Norman Transcript looks back on Collison’s season and ponders the veteran’s options.
"“I’ve been treated great here, and I’ve had great experiences here, and it’s been the best basketball years of my life for sure playing here,” Collison said. “Hopefully it’ll work out, but that’s the way it goes. There’s no answers today.”It would certainly be odd to see Collison wearing another uniform. San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, Miami’s Udonis Haslem and Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki are the only active players who have played for just one organization in their careers for at least as long."
Free Agent Options:
As Sam Presti noted in his season ending press conference the OKC Thunder don’t have a ton of options this offseason for the free agent market given the cap situation. That fact won’t stop the Thunder GM from scouring the free agent market in an effort to find suitable role players to surround Russell Westbrook with. Kevin Haswell of Welcome To Loud City serves up an intriguing option given the Thunder’s need for perimeter scoring.
"Korver, 36, is set to hit free-agency this off-season as an unrestricted free agent. This year with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks, he averaged 10.1 points in 26.2 minutes per game. He shot well from behind the three-point line, shooting 45.1 percent and hitting 2.4 threes per game. While he struggled early in the season with the Hawks, shooting 40.1 percent from behind the three-point line, Korver has heated up since the trade to the Cavaliers, shooting 48.1 percent from down town. He has proven once again this season that he is one of the elite three-point shooters in the league."
The Elephant In the Room:
My cohort Tony Heim asked the question on every OKC Thunder fans minds yesterday. Which media professional deemed the first triple-double season in over 50 years didn’t warrant a first team All-NBA vote?
"So now I ask the question: Who had the audacity to put Steph Curry over Russell Westbrook on their All-NBA ballot? I don’t want to be like this. I really don’t. But when you see that LeBron James was also left off the First Team ballot in favor of one of the Golden State forwards the pieces start to come together.We have a homer."
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
Enjoy your weekend! And, be sure to make OKC Thunder ‘In the News’ a daily stop to get up to speed on the latest and greatest about your favorite team.