Sam Presti and the OKC Thunder continue to have a dominant offseason, this time bringing back wing Andre Roberson at a bargain.
Late Wednesday night, ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Thunder signed restricted free agent Andre Roberson to a three-year 30 million dollar contract. The report was later confirmed by The Oklahoman‘s Erik Horne.
Andre Roberson has agreed to a new three-year, $30M deal with Oklahoma City, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2017
Can confirm Andre Roberson has agreed to terms with Thunder. Quite the combination of wing defenders with Roberson/George for OKC.
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) July 6, 2017
Wojnarowski later tweeted that Roberson, 25 preferred a three-year deal compared to four years. The likely explanation for this is that Roberson will be able to get another big contract when he is 28 as opposed to 29 years old.
With Roberson signed, the Thunder are currently 4 million dollars into the luxury tax.
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This past Fall, Roberson turned down a four-year 48 million dollar contract with the Thunder, betting on his improvement. While Roberson had his best year, he was unable to account for the condensed salary cap for the upcoming season. And while Roberson was a beast defensively, his shooting woes were exposed greatly during the playoffs. Teams simply weren’t going to give him a large contract with his glaring offensive issues.
The Fit
Roberson will now slide back to the shooting guard position. He and Paul George will now be arguably the best wing defensive pair in the NBA. On offense, it will be up to the coaching staff to make sure that he is being used effectively, and not just being parked in the corner. Roberson is at his best when cutting and on transition.
Grade: A
This is another excellent signing considering how dangerous restricted free agency can be. Even if Roberson can’t improve on offense, his defense will be more than worth his new deal. Plus, Roberson’s offense will be lest exploited with the additions of Paul George and Patrick Patterson. This signing looks great now, and could look even better a year or two from now.