Thunderous Intentions
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The Great Debate: Keeping Kyle Singler or Semaj Christon

By Tony Heim

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 13: Kyle Singler
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 13: Kyle Singler /
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HOUSTON, TX – APRIL 3: Kyle Singler #5 of the OKC Thunder shoots a free throw during the game against the Houston Rockets on April 3, 2016 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX – APRIL 3: Kyle Singler #5 of the OKC Thunder shoots a free throw during the game against the Houston Rockets on April 3, 2016 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Kyle Singler

Pros

  • Waiving Singler means either paying him his full $9.7 million or stretching that figure over 7 years. Oklahoma City is currently $3 million over the tax line – if they stretch Singler and keep Christon they’ll still be over.
  • Singler is a fan favorite. Do we really want to miss out on another year of tweets like this?

Cons

  • Kyle Singler is not good at NBA basketball, and hasn’t been for a couple seasons. There’s no sign that Singler will get over his shooting struggles – if he can’t shoot he isn’t contributing anything positive on the court.
  • Keeping Singler means there will be multiple times in the season where a more-deserved player (likely Josh Huestis) is stuck on the bench. Billy Donovan likes to utilize his entire roster to see where his players are at, even if he knows they probably can’t play in the league.
  • Singler would almost be guaranteed to stay in OKC for the last two years of his contract. There’s no sense of stretching a player with such a small cap hold and only two seasons left, so this is Presti’s last season to consider it.
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