Complete 2018 NBA Free Agency primer for OKC Thunder and all 30 teams
OKC Thunder:
Free Agents:
- Corey Brewer ( UFA)
- Raymond Felton (UFA)
- Paul George (UFA – opts out)
- Jerami Grant (UFA)
- Josh Huestis (UFA) Fourth-year restriction
- Daniel Hamilton (RFA – 2-way FA)
- PJ Dozier (RFA – 2-way FA)
Team Profile and Ranking:
Key Ranking Stats to end season:
- Offense: 11th (107.2)
- Defense: 10th (104.7)
- Net: 8th (plus +2.6)
NBA Power Ranking at 2017-18 season end: 10th
ESPN Power Ranking post playoffs:14th
Vegas odds to win 2018-19 title as of June 26: 80 to 1
Committed Salary: $137,538,745.00 as of June 29th
Average attendance: 18,203
Attendance rank: 13th
Arena: Chesapeake Energy Arena
Management:
- General Manager: Sam Presti – 2007
- Head Coach: Billy Donovan – 2015
The Spurs are fully engaged in trade talks with several teams on Kawhi Leonard, including the Lakers and Celtics, league sources tell ESPN. Boston has long had the assets that the Spurs most covet in a potential Leonard trade.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 28, 2018
OKC Thunder players status to be determined :
For example, the Carmelo Anthony contract was locked in Saturday when he elected to opt-in. OKC has four more outstanding issues to clarify prior to the July 1st moratorium. Each of these will be decided by June 29th.
It’s also the deadline for the Thunder to tender a qualifying offer to Jerami Grant. In addition, OKC has until then to decide if they want to retain their two-way contracts of Daniel Hamilton and PJ Dozier. If they do the franchise will need to extend offers on or prior to this date
The salary cap hit:
Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, Alex Abrines, Patrick Patterson, Kyle Singler, Terrance Ferguson, and Dakari Johnson are the players already locked into 2018-19. Those nine players account for $116,835,361.00 in salary.
OKC is sitting within $6,164,639.00 of the threshold prior to adding Paul George (fingers crossed) along with four other players minimum. This pretty much paints a clear picture of a season of luxury tax for the OKC Thunder. And, heaven forbid if George elects to go elsewhere it puts major pressure on Sam Presti to make it work.
Salary Profile:
Carmelo Anthony opted into his contract as everyone in the free world expected. As was also expected Paul George opted out of his contract.
| Sala | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Age | 2018-19 | Signed Using | Guaranteed |
| Russell Westbrook | 29 | $35,350,000 | Bird Rights | $186,912,608 |
| Carmelo Anthony | 34 | $27,928,140 | Bird Rights | $26,243,760 |
| Steven Adams | 24 | $24,157,303 | 1st Round Pick | $100,000,000 |
| Andre Roberson | 26 | $10,000,000 | Bird Rights | $30,000,000 |
| Alex Abrines | 24 | $5,455,236 | Cap Space | $11,180,236 |
| Patrick Patterson | 29 | $5,451,600 | MLE | $10,643,600 |
| Kyle Singler | 30 | $4,996,000 | Bird Rights | $9,662,500 |
| Terrance Ferguson | 20 | $2,118,840 | 1st Round Pick | $3,903,840 |
| Dakari Johnson | 22 | $1,378,242 | $2,193,857 | |
| Team Totals | $137,538,745 | $410,444,805 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/27/2018.
Draft 2018:
Round 2:
With the 53rd pick, the Thunder selected Virginia guard Devon Hall
Rookie Profile: Senior sniper Devon Hall could fill OKC perimeter needs
With the 57th pick, the Thunder (from Celtic) selected Texas Arlington forward, Kevin Hervey
Rookie Profile: Kevin Hervey arrives with an injury-prone reputation
Traded with Nets to get Kentucky guard Hamidou Diallo
Rookie Profile: Hamidou Diallo rolled the dice and lost
Free Agency – Offseason Mandate:
We’ve waxed poetic about this all year. Bringing back Paul George is essential for this squad to contend and for the franchise to prove they can land the big stars and keep them. Failing to do so will only serve to re-ignite the commentary about Westbrook not being a team player, OKC not being a desirable market, etc.
The unfathomable point in this discussion is how lucky the franchise has been in such a young existence. They’ve never had to endure multiple losing seasons. Nor have they ever not had at least one superstar on the team. Seldom not been featured on Christmas or in multiple Nationally televised games each season. The decade this franchise has been in existence is the same amount of time some of their counterparts have been lying in perennial lottery obscurity.
Since we’ve touched on this repeatedly, I’ll simply say bringing back Paul George seems to be trending up. Suffice to say failure to do so will result in opening cans of worms that won’t sit well in Thunder Nation. Let’s hope that’s a post I don’t have to deliver.
One sad fact is Jerami Grant is likely lost, though there will be other young talents to consider. Billy Donovan is hopefully madly at work coming up with actual systems to employ which include methods to help his bench succeed. Even if George returns the players who provided the best minutes in a reserve role may all be lost so there is plenty of work for Sam Presti to complete.