Amid OKC Thunder roster turnover Isaiah Roby doesn’t know his ceiling yet

The Oklahoma City Thunder are entering an offseason that features a ton of uncertainty, especially leading up to next week’s NBA Lottery where the OKC Thunder will get clarity on their two lottery picks. With four picks in the top 34 selections, the Oklahoma City Thunder will be in line to make a ton of roster changes. One of the players that head into the offseason with uncertainty is Isaiah Roby.

Isaiah Roby is a 24-year-old tweener, stuck between power forward and center with his 6’8 230 pound frame.  coming out of Nebraska University, the Dallas Mavericks made him the highest-paid second-round player ever after selecting him 45th overall in the 2019 Draft. That is quite the come-up for Roby who admitted back in April “I didn’t pick Nebraska to make the NBA, even my freshman year I wasn’t even a starter at Nebraska. The NBA was not even on my radar until I started doing what NBA players do.”

OKC Thunder has an interesting decision to make involving Isaiah Roby who does not know his ceiling yet

While he did not pick Nebraska for their NBA prowess, it certainly worked out for him and he fell in love with being a Cornhusker earning his degree in 2021 and attending the Nebraska vs Oklahoma football game in Norman last fall.

Isaiah Roby declared after the 2021-22 NBA season that he does not know his ceiling yet, but “I’m excited to find it though.” Roby is entering year four of his NBA career, but it is just his third season as an ankle injury kept him out of all but three games his rookie season when he was dealt from Dallas to Oklahoma City before playing a single game for Justin Patton in an attempt to make room on the Mavericks roster to sign Willie Cauley-Stein.

The Nebraska product is 109-games into his career with a nine-point average, five rebounds per game, an assist, and nearly a steal and block per clash. Roby shoots 36-percent from three on two attempts per game while going for nearly 50-percent from the floor in his career.

Isaiah Roby might not know his ceiling yet, but it is up to Sam Presti to figure it out in a hurry as Roby has a 1.9-million dollar club option standing in the way of him and free agency on the last year of his deal.  In terms of just math and the salary cap, declining that option is one of the easiest ways for Presti to create a roster spot.

However, on the court, Roby makes an interesting plea to remain on the squad ranking in the 93rd percentile for his position on corner threes (50-percent), and 95th percentile on non-corner triples (45-percent), and 98th percentile overall for his position on all three-pointers (46-percent). Roby also dominated the long mid-range (57-percent). Roby’s rim finishing was a career-high 68-percent, despite his minutes per game falling by one minute from last season.

The hardest case for keeping Isaiah Roby is his defense. While Isaiah Roby is a savvy defender that is rarely out of position, he just is not big enough to defend down low in the NBA. Even walling up at the rim without fouling results in no success for Roby.

With the surplus of picks coming in this year and next, it will be tough for Presti to justify his roster spot in OKC. However, in his just over 100-career-games, I believe Roby has carved out a role long-term for someone in the association.