The OKC Thunder continued to make moves in the offseason, this time exercising two backcourt options to go along with Darius Bazley’s option being exercised.
The OKC Thunder are the most active team in the NBA in terms of roster management. They continued their offseason momentum this week by exercising the options of Darius Bazley, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Ty Jerome.
We are yet to see Jerome play this season due to a left ankle injury. He came over in the Thunder in the Chris Paul trade after playing 31 games last season for the Suns averaging 3.3 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 0.5 steals in just 10.6 minutes per game.
There are a few reasons the OKC Thunder are looking to keep the 6’5″ shooting guard. Firstly they want to see how he will go with the team and they can’t do that until he is healthy. Secondly, he may be a good piece to finalize a trade, or thirdly the Thunder are most probably shopping George Hill and Jerome will be used more when Hill is gone.
Why the OKC Thunder exercised Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s option.
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To say that the OKC Thunder exercised SGA’s option because he is the future of the franchise is to over-simplify the issue. Yes, it was a no-brainer to exercise SGA’s option, you get a star-caliber player for $5.5 million for next season.
This means the Thunder have just under $62 million in committed salary next season with a growing Bazley, an extremely talented backcourt in SGA, and Luguentz Dort with the veteran presence of Al Horford in the middle.
Add to this the Thunder should have one or two top ten picks from the 2021 draft and it is becoming a team very much on the rise. They then have the salary-cap space to offer a disgruntled star.
They also have enough draft capital to interest teams in trading away some solid players who might not be performing well for their franchise. Looking even further forward the Thunder only have $47 million in committed salary in the 2022-23 season.
This will be the season the Thunder hopes to have SGA locked up with a rookie extension and they have the space to do this while adding talent around him. This could be one of the quickest rebuilds in league history and it centers around the prodigious talent of SGA.