Nick Collison, the face of the Oklahoma City organization, is officially returning for his 14th season in the NBA and 10th with the OKC Thunder.
Sam Presti can’t go a couple days without making us Thunder fans excited. Presti and the front office agreed to re-sign Nick Collison to a one-year deal today, giving Collison the opportunity for one final season.
Nick Collison is re-signing with Oklahoma City on a 1-year deal to end 15-year career with Thunder franchise, sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 14, 2017
This isn’t earth-shattering news. Collison has been with one organization his entire career – frankly this is the one team where he would make a serious impact at this stage of his career.
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Collison isn’t going to play much this season. Last year was the first in which he saw his minutes per game drop below 10 (6.4) and his games played drop below 50 (20). Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Jerami Grant, Dog McDermott and Patrick Patterson will garner most of the minutes at the 4-5 spots, leaving Collison with a role he’s perfectly suited for: a pseudo player-coach.
The move means that Presti absolutely has to build a team with the ability to compete with Golden State and Cleveland. This is Collison’s last chance to win an NBA title as a player; the Thunder should do everything in their power to make his goal a reality.
Nick Collison has given everything to Oklahoma City and the Thunder organization. He’s coming back for one more season, at the age of 36, to help mentor the next batch of Thunder studs. Retire this man’s jersey the second Game 82 ends – if anybody deserves it it’s Nick Collison.