While the NBA world continues to turn with the drama surrounding some of the league’s biggest stars being on the Trade Market, the Oklahoma City Thunder have shifted their focus to the 2022-23 NBA season. Sam Presti has a lot of work ahead of him, as the OKC Thunder currently roster the maximum amount of players allowed in the offseason, 20, and will be forced to waive some standard NBA contracts to meet the roster requirements by October 17th.
It sounds crazy, but as we sit here drinking our morning coffee on July 30th, we are less than 100 days from regular season NBA games and roughly nine weeks away from Training Camp getting underway. The Thunder play a preseason game on October 5th in Tulsa against the Dallas Mavericks. It will be here before you know it.
A way too early roster projection for the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of NBA Training camp, who will stay and who will go?
With that, let’s dive into a way too early roster projection for the 2022-23 NBA season. Which of the three standard NBA contracts will the Oklahoma City Thunder part with before opening night? Who is on the chopping block? How creative can Sam Presti get with this decision? Who fits long-term and who is just a short-term option for the OKC Thunder?
A lot of things can change, from trade opportunities, training camp battles, highlight-filled preseason games, and just more information coming out, but this is just our best guess at what will happen at this point and time. We will do this again after Media Day, Halfway through the preseason, and just before the NBA cut-down day.
The Oklahoma City Thunder roster stands at 20 players heading into training camp, Sam Presti has to cut three standard NBA deals, so where does the roster stand?
So who are the 20 players that make up the current roster heading into training camp? We have you covered on a refresher of the current roster
Guards:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- Josh Giddey
- Lu Dort
- Jalen Williams
- Tre Mann
- Theo Maledon
- Vit Krejci
- Ty Jerome
- Lindy Waters- Two-way, not a standard NBA Deal
Forwards:
- Ousmane Dieng
- Darius Bazley
- Kenrich Williams
- Aaron Wiggins
- Aleksej Pokusevski
- Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
- Eugene Omoruyi- Two-Way, not a standard NBA Deal
Center:
- Chet Holmgren
- Derrick Favors
- Jaylin Williams
- Mike Muscala
Known Training Camp Invite:
- Sacha Killeya-Jones
Sam Presti has to decide on three players to cut not named Eugene Omoruyi, Lindy Waters, or training camp invite Sacha Killeya-Jones. Waiving those players would not help OKC’s roster crunch.
Note on Killeya-Jones: He is on an E10 deal, it is a training camp move that should shuffle him to the Blue after training camp.
Which Oklahoma City Thunder players are on the chopping block heading into training camp, and how creative can Sam Presti get?
The chopping block is a scary place to be, no one wants to enter into a position battle or have their job on the line, but that is the nature of this business. So who finds themselves in limbo as training camp arrives?
Theo Maledon, 1.9-million dollars to waive
Maledon was selected with the 34th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder invested a high second-round pick on him via Philadelphia in the Al Horford trade. Theo Maledon led the team in minutes his rookie year, averaging 27-minutes per game in 65 games played (out of 72 that season), 49 starts while scoring ten points, hauling in three rebounds, and dishing out three assists per game while swiping a steal per contest on the defensive end.
The former second-round pick regressed in his second season, seeing his minutes dip by ten minutes per game and still struggling to shoot the basketball. Maledon dropped four percent from beyond the arc, down to 39 percent from distant.
Maledon does not three anywhere on the floor offensively as a scorer. He is poor at the rim (53 percent), in the mid-range (39 percent), and three-point land (even shooting just 22 percent in the corner), and the combinations of guards on this roster who have seemingly taken even more of his minutes, makes it hard to find a spot for Maledon on this roster. A theme you will see in this article is Chip Engelland.
What if Chip Engelland comes into camp working with Maledon and makes him a respected shooter in a small preseason sample size? The decision to waive the recent second-rounder becomes a lot harder.
Ty Jerome, 4.2-million dollars to waive
The Oklahoma City Thunder acquired Ty Jerome from the Suns in the Chris Paul trade and is the only player from the move that is still on the team’s roster.
In his first season with the OKC Thunder, Ty Jerome played in 33 games while shooting a career-high 42 percent from three-point land on five attempts per game. That figure came crashing back down to reality last season, shooting 29 percent from distance, just one percent better than his rookie year in Phoenix.
Ty Jerome has shown off some playmaking chops, and has shot well from the corner both seasons in OKC (46 percent and 44 percent), could Chip Engelland unlock Jerome into a consistent sharpshooter that he has been hyped up to be? Maybe. But right now, Jerome finds himself on the hot season.
Vit Krejci, 1.5-million dollars to waive
The Oklahoma City Thunder really like Vit Krejci, who was a shocking pick with the 37th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Not only was he coming off an ACL tear two months prior, but most draft experts also did not have him in their top 100!
After a year of rehab in Oklahoma City, Krejci finally made his OKC debut to the tune of six points, three rebounds, and two assists per game with 30 NBA games under his belt. He entered his first healthy offseason in the league and showed up to Summer League looking much improved.
The Thunder not only invested a top-ten second-round pick in Krejci but in the trade with Washington to acquire his rights took on Admiral Schofield to waive the Tennessee product and create dead money so the Wizards did not have to.
The only true reason Vit Krejci finds himself on the block is just the nature of his contract. When you have to eat three standard NBA deals, you will not find a more palatable waive than 1.5-million.
Note: The Thunder can not get creative and waive and stash him on a two-way deal, he has been guaranteed too much money in his NBA career for that to work within the construct of the CBA.
Derrick Favors, 10.1-million dollars to waive
Favors is 12 year NBA veteran that started 18 games for the OKC Thunder, playing in just 39 of the 82 contests during the 2021-22 season. The Georgia Tech product loves being on this rebuilding squad and taking the youngsters under his wing as a mentor on life in the NBA. Though, for ten million, who wouldn’t?
Would the Thunder be comfortable paying Favors ten million dollars to sit at home? I think so, given the fact that it is basically what they did last year. With a more crowded roster than Favors’ first round in Bricktown, even if he stays on the roster all year will he appear in more than 39 games?
Derrick Favors provides a lot for the young players and the decision Presti has to ponder comes down to whether you get enough veteran leadership from Mike Muscala and Kenrich Williams. Or is it best to have another “adult in the room?”
Favors provides value you can not see on the floor, but from his own words and his teammate’s praise, it might be worth keeping him around vs an additional G-League quality player. While he does not have the same tenure in OKC, think of the Udonis Haslem role. His leadership helps the Heat stay the course through the 82-game marathon, and no one questions the Heat’s ability to find minutes for young players. They turn undrafted guys into gold more than any other organization.
Aaron Wiggins, 1.5-million dollars to waive
The Oklahoma City Thunder should not even think about waiving Aaron Wiggins, especially after the addition of Chip Engelland to the coaching staff. Though, while I am admittedly against moving on from last year’s 55th overall pick, I am trying to list all of the realistic scenarios here.
While for me, Wiggins would be a roster lock, I would not just be blown away if Presti pulls the rug out from under the Maryland product. That move would only be due to his cheap deal to get out from under, but a move they instantly regret. A lot of teams would gladly throw a waiver claim at Wiggins. This would be ten times more egregious than waiving Roby, and we all saw the outrage from that.
Trading Darius Bazley?
Again, a move that I would not predict, but technically could happen so I will include it in this section of possible moves. Sam Presti typically trades restricted free agents before they hit the open market or decide to extend them a year before, with few exceptions. No decision has been made on Bazley to this point, and he still has a lot to prove heading into a contract year.
The issue with a Bazley trade is, that you can not afford to take back players or that does not solve your roster crunch (there are not many players making less than the 4.2-million dollars owed to Bazley so taking on players easier to waive money-wise will even be a hard combination).
Plus, the net gain of this move would not be great and only get OKC a freed-up roster spot. After Bazley displayed elite defense and switching potential last year, I would project OKC to bet on Chip Engelland’s impact and the motivation on a contract year, for their 2019 First-Round pick to regain value.
Projecting the 2022-23 Oklahoma City Thunder roster 1.0 before Training camp gets underway
After laying out the entire roster, the candidates to get moved, and the tasks at hand, one thing becomes incredibly clear…no one should envy Sam Presti’s job right now. While none of the players on the chopping block are superstar caliber or anything close, there is a case to be made to keeping every single player that might be waived. You can play devil’s advocate and beat the drum for all six guys (really only four in strong consideration by my estimation). They provide value in some way and/or have a reason to believe in potential growth this season due to age, experience, resources, and environment in Bricktown.
So who gets waived?
- Theo Maledon: He needs a fresh start. Sure, maybe Chip Engelland can help him thrive off-ball, but I think the best move for his career is to land in a spot that has more ball-handling minutes available to him. If you power-rank this roster on who you want to have the ball in their hands, Maledon quickly falls down that list despite that being his best skill. A fresh start could do everyone some good in the case of Maledon.
- Ty Jerome: The mythical sharpshooter has been given Opportunities, and it was hard to find minutes for him last year on a more wide-open roster. Now, that chance lands with someone else.
- I have gone back and forth on this last cut, debating between Derrick Favors and Vit Krejci. While I like Vit Krejci a lot, the money aspect is what tips the scales. If Krejci hits his ceiling in the NBA, what does that mean? A 10th or 11th man? Though, the Thunder are going to have to pay Favors 10.1-million dollars no matter if he plays a handful of games or not, so should money tip the scales in this case with no long-term money on the books for the Georgia Tech native and no chance to improve his stock before the trade deadline? Ultimately, would you rather bet on Krejci becoming the tenth man, or Favors helping the locker room manage a full 82-game season as a player that has experienced four organizations? It will be incredibly difficult for Mark Daigneault to find time for either player this season on the court.