Toronto Raptors ink OKC Blue Center DJ Wilson

As the NBA is getting ravaged with COVID-19, and each waking (and sleeping) moment of your life you live in fear of a buzz on your phone telling you that your favorite player(s) are now in COVID protocols and will miss ten or more days with games being postponed left and right, the NBA has changed its roster rules making it easy for teams to ink hardship deals. The easiest way to sign players to these short-term ten-day contracts is by inking players who are still actively playing in the NBA G-Leauge, enter DJ Wilson.

The Toronto Raptors are the latest NBA COVID-19 victims (though by the time you finish reading this sentence that might no longer be true), the Raptors are now down eight players including OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, Precious Achiuwa, Scottie Barnes, Malachi Flynn, Gary Trent Jr, Dalano Banton, and Pascal Siakam. In an attempt to play their Wednesday tilt with the Chicago Bulls, which was later canceled, the Raptors inked DJ Wilson to a ten-day contract stealing him off the OKC Blue roster.

DJ Wilson nabbed off OKC Blue roster by Toronto Raptors

The Oklahoma City Thunder brought DJ Wilson into training camp to start the season, and the former first-round pick (17th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft) had a legitimate shot of making the roster. Ultimately, Mark Daigneault, Sam Presti, and the powers that be decided against Wilson breaking camp with the varsity squad.

Those the Michigan product, who has played in 142 NBA games, went to the NBA G-League with the OKC Blue as the Thunder organization controlled his rights after the training camp stint with the Thunder.

DJ Wilson last played in the NBA with the Houston Rockets during the 2020-21 season, logging 23 games with the Rockets after being shipped to Houston via Milwaukee. Wilson averaged six points, an assist, three rebounds, and half a block per contest with the space ships.

During his time with the OKC Blue, Wilson helped lift the Oklahoma City Thunder G-League squad to a great first-half record including a trip to the NBA G-Leauge showcase cup championship that Wilson did not participate in as he was en route to join the Raptors.

With the OKC Blue in 14 games, Wilson made 11 starts, averaged 14 points, three assists, and nine rebounds per game. Shooting 24-percent from the three-point line on three attempts per game, Wilson made nearly half his shots from the flor (49-percent).

The question remains why not take a shot on DJ Wilson when a roster spot is seemingly wasted on Gabriel Deck, who despite being talented does not log minutes for Mark Daigneault’s squad? The team could simply evaluate their 55th overall pick, Aaron Wiggins to the main roster from his current two-way pact, award Wilson with a two-way deal, and release Deck. Though, Sam Presti is smarter than all of us, so we will see what tricks Presti has up his sleeves. The most likely route is a trade, using Deck as an easy salary filler, a contract the receiving team can easily get off of as well.