OKC Thunder notebook: Micic, Dort, Horford, Summer roster

The OKC Thunder and NBA world never stop, it remains constant all year long, you are drinking out of the fire hose of information. With the NBA world turning at a rapid pace, Let’s start a weekly notebook for your Monday (or in this case, Tuesday) consumption of all the info you need to catch up on and be ready for this week. The NBA Offseason is here with at most five more NBA games left, and believe it or not, this is a time of year some fans love more than the regular season. With a rebuild in process, four 2022 NBA Draft picks, and a ton of flexibility, there is a lot to dive into with the Thunder organization.

Al Horford plays in his first NBA Finals

Let’s kick off today’s notebook with a proper congratulations to Al Horford for making it to the NBA Finals for the first time in his lengthy career. The five-time All-Star and 14-year NBA veteran logged 26 points in the Celtics’ game one win over the Warriors including six triples, six rebounds, three assists, and a steal. In game two, Horford only scored two points and hauled in eight boards in the team’s blowout loss which sees the series even at one game apiece.

Take a look back at the Al Horford trades which sent Horford to OKC and then shipped him out of Bricktown to Boston on his way to the NBA Finals.

Vasilije Micic wants to come to the NBA 

Yup, this is a story again. EuroLeague MVP who was selected with the 52nd overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft is once again teasing an NBA jump this offseason. The 28-year-old that stands 6’5 coming in at 203 pounds is a tall playmaker that is lighting the hardwood on fire for Anadolu Efes averaging 18 points, four assists, two rebounds, and a steal per game while shooting 34-percent from distance wants to test his skill set in the NBA.

However, Micic has made it clear he does not want to play for the OKC Thunder, who own his draft rights, meaning the organization would need to trade him for him to consider coming to the NBA. Micic is a two-time EuroLeague Finals MVP and could help an NBA team right away, however, despite his skillset do not expect him to have a ton of value.

Given the questions of how serious he wants to come over, a move he has been teasing for a while, and the lack of leverage OKC has given he has stated he does not want to play in Bricktown, Micic can be used as a cherry on top, but will not be the ice cream in the sundae. A deal will not be made or fall apart by the inclusion or exclusion of Micic.

An Interesting Lu Dort contract option

As covered before, Keith Smith of Spotrac and the Front Office Show podcast, mentioned the OKC Thunder have an option available to them which might be likely. Sam Presti can decline Dort’s 1.9-million dollar player option which would hit the ear funny for Thunder fans, that would make Dort a restricted free agent and allow OKC to hammer out a long-term extension with the star defender or match any contract offer he inks with another team.

If OKC picks up his option, and for whatever reason can not come to a long-term agreement alongside it, Dort would hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2023.

OKC Thunder begins filling out their NBA Summer League roster: 

The Oklahoma City Thunder are participating in multiple NBA Summer League circuits this offseason, starting in Salt Lake City as the Thunder take on the Utah Jazz on July 5th, the Memphis Grizzlies on July 6th, and the Philadelphia 76ers on July 7th. Following those contests, OKC will head to Vegas to participate in the main NBA Summer League.

We already know Josh Giddey, Aleksej Pokusevski, Tre Mann, and Lindy Waters are slated to play in the NBA Summer Circuit from last year’s squad. It is a  safe assumption the 2022 NBA Draft picks will also participate in Summer League. However, along with youngsters on the NBA roster, and incoming draft picks, the Summer League roster will be comprised of undrafted free agents, young players from around the league looking for a shot, and some veterans looking to get back in the league.

We have our first name from outside the organization that will be joining the OKC Thunder this summer in Robert Baker. A 6’10 forward that played for the Kings’ G-League squad a year ago, he is 23-years-old from the University of Harvard.

NBA Draft Workout tracker

You can find the complete Workout tracker, including tidbits on players already up on the website, but each week to end the notebook leading up to the draft, I will just rattle off each player here to make it easy to keep track of. It is important to note the Oklahoma City Thunder does not release their workouts the way other teams do so all of these names are from sources like agents, social media, and player interviews.

With the Thunder not releasing the workout lists these also are not the complete names so do not panic when you do not see your favorite prospect, especially at the top of the draft. Agents and players who are most likely to reveal their workout schedule are mid-lottery or later guys. It will be hard to track down when exactly the top-end players have conducted workouts. There is at least one top ten prospect I know that has worked out with OKC that I can not reveal and another in the second round range that is just how the workout trackers go!

Jordan Goldwire, Keon Ellis, John Knight, Tyson Jolly, Davion Warren, Lester Quinones, Isaiah Wong (returned to school), Drew Timme (returned to school), Bryce McGowens, Kendall Brown, Malaki Branham, Patrick Baldwin Jr, Jeremy Sochan, Tari Eason, TyTy Washington, and Jaden Hardy have all conducted NBA Draft workouts with the Thunder.

Song of the week: Manic Monday, The Bangles, but replace Manic with Micic