Should the OKC Thunder ink a big man on a ten-day pact?
By Rylan Stiles
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been hit hard by the injury bug over the last few weeks. The already small OKC Thunder roster lost their only two true bigs in short order throughout December with Jeremiah Robinson-Earl being out weeks due to an ankle injury, and last week seeing Aleksej Pokusevski go down due to a non-displaced tibial plateau fracture in his left leg which will not even be re-evaluated until approximately six to eight weeks from now. These two injuries are on top of the Thunder already missing prized center and 2nd overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Chet Holmgren for the entire season.
On January 5th, the NBA will begin to allow teams to ink ten-day contracts with players who will mostly be coming from the NBA G-League, but there are a few exceptions to that. Should the Oklahoma City Thunder partake in these ten-day pacts to help bridge the gap down low until a big man returns to health?
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been bitten by the injury bug, leaving the OKC Thunder with no paint protection and one true center. Should they search for a big man on a ten-day contract?
I know what you are thinking, “well, actually, the Thunder have a full roster and why would they cut anyone for a ten-day G-League big man just due to injuries?” While you are right, the roster is full, and they would not cut someone for a ten-day trial contract, the Oklahoma City Thunder have four players who are currently out that have missed at least three games.
This provides the OKC Thunder a hardship exception to add a roster spot and can ink a ten-day deal to help get the roster to the other side of these injuries. However, once one of Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Aleksej Pokusevski, or Ousmane Dieng (with Chet Holmgren already being ruled out for the season), returns, the Thunder would need to get back into compliance by terminating the ten-day deal early if the timing does not align perfectly.
So, who are some options for the OKC Thunder to go out and add on a ten-day deal that can fill the gap down low?