Why did the OKC Thunder waive Isaiah Roby?

The Oklahoma City Thunder made an interesting roster move over the weekend, waiving forward Isaiah Roby just days after the organization picked up his 1.9-million dollar team option. When the news broke that the Thunder had waived Isaiah Roby, it was a bit of a surprise, but not for the way the National Media thinks.

The Oklahoma City Thunder waived Isaiah Roby on Sunday before his 1.9-million dollar contract could become fully guaranteed. A contract, that they picked up days earlier. While it is not clear what changed between Wednesday to Sunday, it could simply be more time passed as Sam Presti realized there is no chance of Roby earning a roster spot in October, so they might as well cut bait with him now instead of giving him the chance to prove himself.

That is what shocked me about this move, I never thought Isaiah Roby was a lock to make the roster, but I did think after Wednesday they would at least carry him into October and allow the Nebraska product to compete in training camp.

OKC Thunder waive Isaiah Roby before his contract can become fully guaranteed aimed roster crunch

The National Media freaked out about this move, citing the team as having “too many” draft picks and is now “cutting a useable NBA player!” but that just simply is not true. The writing has been on the wall for Isaiah Roby since the team selected Jeremiah Robinson-Earl last season. The Thunder invested multiple second-round picks into trading up to grab the Villanova product, whereas they only took a flyer on Roby using Justin Patton in a trade to acquire the former Maverick.

Isaiah Roby had a nice season offensively, though it is not as though we have a big track record of this. Roby shot 46 percent from three-point land on 93 attempts, though on 99 attempts the year prior, Roby stroked the trey ball at just a 31-percent clip.

Defensively, Isaiah Roby was always in the right spot and did a fantastic job of not allowing his undersized frame to lead to fouls when defending bigger bodies, but despite walling up at the rim without getting into foul trouble, big men would just score through him. He also lacks the defensive versatility to defend on the perimeter.

Is he worth a flyer for another NBA team, Marking his third franchise since he entered the NBA in 2019? Yes. but let’s not act like the Thunder waived a top player in this league. The Thunder waived the 15th man on their roster when you break their team down into tiers of who is better than Roby currently, and who has more developmental priority than Roby.

We wish nothing but the best for the Nebraska product and we will see if any team(s) put in a waiver claim for him today.