4. Signed a new deal for Aaron Wiggins
Declined Aaron Wiggins' 2024-25 team option, re-signed him to a five-year, $45 million contract.
A move so nice, they did it twice.
In addition to declining Isaiah Joe's tiny team option and signing him to a new, front-loaded extension, the Thunder did the same exact move with Aaron Wiggins. The difference is that Wiggins was a draft pick of the Thunder, who took him 55th in 2021 and have developed him into a legitimate rotation player on a winning team.
The 6-foot-6 Wiggins -- no relation to Andrew -- is not particularly skilled in any one area but does just about everything well.
He is a career 39.2 percent three-point shooter, is a good defender, and his athleticism translates well as a cutter finishing at the rim and when he can get out in transition. He is not adding much value to a winning team as an on-ball creator, but he is not dead-to-rights if he needs to attack a closeout.
That's the kind of two-way wing a good team wants to have around, and the Thunder locked him in for the next five seasons. His deal begins at $10.5 million this season and decreases until he will make just $7.9 million in the final year of the contract, a paltry 3.88 percent of the projected 2028-29 salary cap.
Wiggins doesn't boast the upside to become a much better player, and it may be that he isn't worthy of a rotation spot in a couple of years as the rest of the Thunder roster improves. Yet this deal is small enough that it should be very tradeable, and at worst he can simply exist on the roster as a deep reserve.
Grade: B+