JaMychal Green heads to Golden State after working out a buyout with Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder have had a jam-packed offseason, with still more transitions to come. While the Oklahoma City Thunder are still in the midst of their rebuild, their roster is far from settled. The offseason started with all eyes focused on the 2022 NBA Draft, especially after the Thunder received the second and 12th overall picks at the NBA Draft Lottery. Days before the team brought in four new players via the draft, Sam Presti swung a trade with Denver to bring in Jamychal Green and a future first-round pick.

I will never forget the day JaMychal Green was traded to the Thunder, five weeks ago as some of the media descended upon a local high school in Oklahoma City for a Russell Westbrook community event, the news broke that the Thunder traded the 30th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft (later becoming Peyton Watson) for a top-5 protected first-round pick in 2027.

When Sam Presti was asked about this trade at the introductory press conference for the 2022 Rookie Class, Presti told the assembled media that JaMychal Green would not be a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Saying at that time he was in contact with Green’s agent and they had a lot of time to work through a buyout before October.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have reached a buyout with veteran forward JaMychal Green, who intends to sign with the Golden State Warriors after clearing waivers

Well, that conversation with Green’s agent did not take long, as the Thunder and JaMychal Green have reached a contract buyout with the intent to sign with the reigning champions.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are facing a roster crunch with the team carrying the maximum 20 players this offseason, 18 of those players being on a standard NBA contract. The team has to get that down to 17 rostered players (including both two-way slots, and 15 standard deals) by October 19th ahead of the 2022-23 regular season.

The trade market never materialized for JaMychal Green, which is why the Nuggets had to attach such a juicy pick (in all likelihood better than the 30th selection they gained). The Thunder also lacked leverage after attempting publicly Green would become a free agent soon, as no contending team wanted to take on his 8-million dollar salary and push themselves further into the tax.