OKC Thunder crowded backcourt grows with Vit Krejci deal

Sam Presti the executive vice president and general manager of the OKC Thunder continues to shores up the 2021-22 roster. This week, the team provided a press release confirming they have inked Vit Krejci to a multi-year deal.

The terms, as per usual weren’t released within the club’s press release. That is very Presti-esque as the Thunder and VP are one of the few clubs that never leak information. Fortunately, there are eager national reporters who are on the job and make it their business to find out details.

Andrew Schhlecht of The Athletic confirmed the semantics of the four-year deal. Only the first year is fully guaranteed, the second has close to $800k guaranteed with the third and fourth season under team options. That means, if Krejci is still with the club in 2023-24 or 2024-25 the Thunder could elect to cut him loose. It also makes his contract desirable as part of trade packages given its flexibility.

OKC Thunder ink Krejci to deal – he’ll vie for time in a crowded backcourt

Krejci was initially drafted by the Washington Wizards in the 2020 draft with their 37th selection. The day after the 2020 Draft, the Thunder traded for Krejci along with Admiral Schofield in exchange for Cassius Winston, a 2024 second-round draft pick (owned by Grizzlies) and a trade exception.

Having suffered an ACL injury Krejci last played organized ball in 2019-20 in the Spanish League for Casademont Zaragoza. In 37 games the 6’8″ guard averaged 3.2 points and 1.2 rebounds in just over nine minutes per game.

The club has been working with the 21-year old since January helping him recover from the ACL injury. His signing brings the OKC Thunder roster to the full complement of 15 varsity players and two 2-way contracted players.  That’s not to suggest more moves might be made but they’ll require players being traded or waived at this point.

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Of the 15 varsity players, Krejci is one of eight guards – so more than half the roster is guards. Both big men (Derrick Favors/Mike Muscala) are listed as Forward/Centers but in truth are better suited to playing the four. Five forwards round out the roster which is intent on paying positionless ball.

That could explain how the team is being constructed or it could be because Presti wants to get a look at a number of players to determine who fits the postionless system best. Or the other unspoken point is Presti could purposely be loading up the team with guards without concern of matching up versus larger teams since the mandate is to tank this season.

Krejci is a taller guard so he fits Daigneault’s system and will be given ample opportunity to excel.  He’ll play a role as a reserve but will also likely be afforded the opportunity to mesh with the young core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, and Darius Bazley.

It’s more likely he’ll spend time with returning sophomores Theo Maleon and Aleksej Pokusevski as well as rookie Josh Giddey. If he demonstrates an ability to improve the team’s offensive outburst while sticking to the defensive principles of the club he’ll be able to carve out a spot on the future club.