The Oklahoma City Thunder entered training camp with too many players under contract on standard NBA pacts. The OKC Thunder need to waive three standard NBA pacts by October 17th to be in line with the NBA roster mandate. A lot has been made of who will be the three departing from the organization, but the organization is already allowing its roster to take shape after this Vit Krejci trade.
The OKC Thunder have already sent Ty Jerome home, the Virginia Product is away from the team as the organization and his representation figure out what is next for his career. Jerome spent two seasons in Bricktown after being selected in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft by the Pheonix Suns. Jerome was involved in the Chris Paul trade and came on shooting-wise in the second year of his career. However, last season reverted to his career average which just is not good enough to carve out a role on this team.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have traded Vit Krejci to the Atlanta Hawks in return for Moe Harkless and a second-round pick, making the roster picture clearer ahead of the season
Another name on the chopping block for the Oklahoma City Thunder has been Vit Krejci, who the Thunder invested in during the 2020 NBA Draft, taking back the guaranteed money of Admiral Schofield, and allowing Krejci to rehab stateside the entire 2020-21 season from an ACL injury sustained just months before the draft.
Though, with a crop of four new prospects from the 2022 NBA Draft, after making the same amount of selections in the 2021 class, the roster just gained too much depth to keep the interesting flyer around. From the defensive strives he showed at NBA Summer League in July, to his three-point shooting, there is a role in the league for Krejci, just not in OKC.
For the Thunder, they get Moe Harkless in return as well as a second-round pick from the Atlanta Hawks. This move allows Atlanta to dodge the Luxury tax while netting OKC a roster spot and second-round pick with the assumption that the Thunder will waive Harkless’ expiring 4.5-million dollar deal ahead of the October 17th deadline. This move costs OKC roughly three million dollars.
Essentially, the Oklahoma City Thunder bought a second-round pick and cleared up a roster spot with this move.