OKC Thunder Free Agency Plans and 2024 NBA Draft Recap

OKC Thunder Free Agency Plans and 2024 NBA Draft Recap

on today’s lock on Thunder podcast the Oklahoma City Thunder wrap up their draft class introduce their draft class and kick off their free agent summer you are locked on Thunder your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day let’s get it going on the lockdown Thunder podcast on the lockon podcast Network your team every day I am your host me member an inside the Thunder beat Rider Thunder on SI Ryland Styles follow me on Twitter Ryland Styles follow the show on Twitter at L thunderpod on today’s show we’re talking about the Oklahoma City Thunder kicking off their summer of moves uh with free agency just mere hours away as well as wrapping up their draft class and introduc in their rookie class but perhaps the biggest story on everybody’s mind today is about free agency which will happen in just a few hours and I think that whenever you look at this free agent picture there was an immediate rush as there typically is to be like Chicken Little and assume the sky is falling and assume the worst in every situation so the Thunder have a contract decision to make on Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins team options on team Friendly Deals uh they declin both options with the anticipation that they’re going to resign each of them with Wiggins being restricted free agent and Isaiah Joe being an unrestricted free agent uh but I I just refuse to believe and and this would all be legal because you know Joe is an incumbent uh Thunder player I just refuse to believe that you would decline Joe’s contract without a little wink wink nudge nudge situation here uh so even though he’s unrestricted I don’t believe it’ll head anywhere other than back to Oklahoma City uh Wiggins is a restricted a restricted free agent so that kind of takes care of business there now when this went down when sham shiria uh tweeted out that the Thunder have elected to do this many people were upset and thought that this ended the off season that’s not exactly true and it’s also not exactly wrong as we always say on this show the truth is often in the middle it’s never as great as it seems it’s never as bad as it seems is the most likely outcome that like they don’t go sign hartenstein they especially don’t go sign Paul George and they just kind of relatively rent it back with the swap of giddy for Caruso as of right now that’s the the most likely option however is that the only option that they can pull off it is not it is not the immediate freak out about this scenario of it being an either or that all stemmed from a lack of understanding of the new CBA the Thunder still have as many options on the table today right now as they did yesterday and the day before they can still go do whatever they want to in free agency because they have Joe and wiggins’ bird rights so they can use up this cap space all throughout Sunday and all throughout you know free agency and then backtrack and resign Joe and Wiggins over the camp because of their bird rights now is that the most likely outcome I don’t think so I think the most likely outcome is either a they just run it back and you do resign Joe you do resign Wiggins and this is kind of the team this is a 57 win team they rely on on you know internal development and they move forward another outcome could be that they make some trades um possibly but again this this takes out Joe and Wiggins from the running of of trade pieces so that you know maybe a trade uh a little tougher to pull off although not impossible basically we have 10% of the information right now we have 10% of the information right now we will be judging this off seon with a uh more Keen Eye because of the implications of this off season of yes they still have a ton of time they still have a ton of time to uh grow internally and to reach the Pinnacle of where they want to go but that doesn’t that doesn’t mean that you just don’t try right now which I think that they are trying right now to win as you saw evident uh by the Caruso trade so we’ll see we’ll see how this goes but but no right now heading into free agency nothing’s off the table because of this move nothing is and you can argue that it was it’s the same amount of likelihood because lost in some of this free agency talk is what we say a lot on this show it takes two to tango like you you know for example hartenstein might be the biggest name out there that people you know realistically link to the Thunder and the Thunder fan base seems to really like you can’t just force him to to put the pen on the paper you can’t just force him to uppr his life and come to Oklahoma City he’s got to want to do that as well so again that that part will come down to just if um the two sides want to to make that work and we don’t really know in either direction who who wants to make it work who wouldn’t want to make it work or is if it’s even an option so again we don’t have to get into what they’re what they’re going to do in the sense of uh the only thing I would push back on right now is judging it as in saying it’s over or impossible to do something that was just flat out wrong um now predicting it I still think that there’s a good chance that they do just swap out kuso make some marginal moves and call it good but they’re I think they’re going to do something throughout the this next couple of weeks as free agency opens and and as trades get more prominent I understand that people are tired of of kicking the can down the road so to say but if you allow me to do so one thing I think it’s discounted about team building and about quote unquote pushing your chips all in there’s nothing more damaging and making the wrong move number one so you don’t want to rush it but independent of that the blend of the new CBA which throws a wrinkle in things of you’ve got to be really measured you’ve got to be really particular I mean folks swapping a one for one Josh giddy FR Caruso a one for one swap with a team that had top five in the league cap space that team that had top five in the league cap space is now hard capped because they did a one forone Swap and took on appr approximately $2 million more than they gave out that’s how intricate that’s how restrictive that’s how how difficult this new CBA is so it’s never been more important to be measured than it is right now but independent of that I know that we don’t want to keep kicking the can down the road like you want that instant gratification of okay I see that this team’s good I I I want to uh see this team grow and develop and and and reach that that ceiling right this second in reality this is just another Benchmark it’s not the final exam in the sense of you still have many years with a core but you still have a very important transactional date still so what are the transactional dates well you have the draft you have free agency and you have the NBA trade deadline those are the three massive transactional dates we’ve passed one of them so far like the draft is gone we’ll recap the draft class coming up and and we have the draft class in hand for agency opens tomorrow that’s never been exactly the Thunder strong suit but the trade deadline isn’t until February and a wrinkle to the trade deadline on top of the CBA need to be measured a wrinkle to the trade deadline is look around the Western Conference which is half of the league so half of the association look around it and and find me the teams that without a shadow of a doubt understand their role because of the new play in tournament everybody is talking themselves into being contenders talking themselves into pushing for the postseason talking themselves into having a shot in February that one not be the case in February injuries suspensions regression everything’s on the table for everybody from now until February and so at February you get a clear picture of who’s in the picture who’s out of the picture how people might need to uh circling back to the CBA reshuffle some things to avoid the the second and first apron and hard caps and luxury tax and this that and the third so it’s arguably you know so the easy path of the Thunder to improve their roster and in the path they most likely take and the path that is most readily available to them is trades and it’s easier to do trades at the deadline that it is right now although right now is really good time as well but you know it’s not going to be the flashy free agency stuff so we just don’t know we just don’t know what’s going on yet we don’t know what what they’re going to do uh we know for a fact that they’re gonna you know of course resign Joe and Wiggins they’re not going to lose those two pieces um and you know trade assets and also just quality players for nothing and and bringing back two of your better you know Ro rotational players on a 57 win team should not be um you know as controversial as it as it sounds as it’s being made out to be and you know you look at this team and you ask yourself do they really need to make a big move because there’s certain moves on the table that are still there that I think while not flashy not sticker shock would still get a resounding you know positive reaction we’ll talk about those coming up but first want say right now better friends over at game time check out game time it’s awesome game time’s great Go download the game time app today use code locked in NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms and conditions apply folks game time is awesome it’s the best absolute best place to buy your tickets no if ANS or buts about it because of their last minute tickets uh there Zone deals their uh Flash Deals and everything in between I love two massive massive features number one I love the view from your seat you’re going to a venue you’re going to an arena you’ve never been before make sure you’re sitting in a great spot with great Sidelines number two I love the Allin pricing I love that of just you know don’t wait till check out to show me the fees show me show 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first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you talking Thunder basketball well folks it’s time to talk more about re agency then we’re going to shift into the draft and the and the intro pressor uh the option decisions kind of su superseded the draft in the intro pressor uh so so to make it clear and concise declining the options has no bearing what the Thunder can or can’t do they can still spend all their cap space and then go resign us too it is obviously highly likely that they’re going to resign both of them uh certainly it also cannot be undersold that for a 57 win team who had a zero point differential against the future western conference champions that team what they’ve done so far this season is immediately upgrade their weakest position in terms of production in terms of fit and taking a couple flyers and some guys that could be impactful we’ll talk about that coming up while resign while declining and resigning these guys which does get their price tag you know more expensive than just picking it up and extending but while while declining and resigning uh is a big deal for Wiggins and Joe and it’s going to be great to to see them get a long-term deal both of them battling from uh circumstances that that rarely are met in the NBA right you rarely see a 55th pick get to a third contract he got the two-way contract he got standard contract now he’s got a third contract uh you they see a guy Isaiah Joe get cut from an NBA organization catch on with somebody else and then get into their contract like it it’s it’s great to see from that standpoint it also does not take them out of the running of getting a guy like jayen Smith now I’m saying this name as a placeholder right because I can hear I can hear the comments I can hear you typing away but Rollin they ain’t got a big man I mean they didn’t go address rebounding they didn’t go addressed or size they didn’t go get no front Court dep I can hear it I’m one of you I’m an Oklahoma through and through I can hear it what about the rebounding what about the glass cleaning like the bottom line is this team was never going to go get a different Center chat hren is their Center they were only gonna go and help this team out in front Court depth depth so even as they resigned Joe and Wiggins they can still go get again placeholder a guy like jenon Smith who uh if that deal went down to be met with an overall positivity level um that now you’re looking at offseason where got a couple fun guys in in uh Dylan Jones and AJ Mitchell you got a top five Prospect in the draft you gota wait a little bit to see and and and topic you’ve got an all defensive member you know two time all defensive member and a 40% three-point shooter in in Caruso who has some playmaking Chaps in feeli and you’ve got your backup big check check check like the boxes had been checked at that point even for as something you know as no offense to like a caliber of J the Smith player like something as minor as as that caliber of player which is still not only on the table but I think it’s still likely like I don’t believe that they’ll just roll the ball out there on on October 19th and say well this is it it’s Chad chat and Jay will they do believe in Jay will a ton and he’s improved every year and Jay Will’s awesome I’m a one of the bigger supporters of Jay will but I I I think that they’re going to do something that’s also not even counting how they view kuso scaling up defensively how they view Dylan Jones scaling up defensively whatever comes of us I know it’s going to be laughed at right this second but I mean if Usman Jang hits you know a different stride right if he translates everything from the g-league to the NBA with a better jump shot then he’s everything that you’re opining that the Thunder should go get so that’s a wrinkle too like how much do they bank and believe in that but ultimately I think that you’re going to see a Joe extension A Wiggins extension and the caliber of player that Jaylen Smith is again that’s a placeholder name that’s not not exactly Jaylen Smith and not even exactly uh via free agency but like that caliber of of a four or five you know twar big man guy that kind of fills in the depth but even though that’s my prediction we’ve obviously known that Sam pry can always have Trix a his seve and uh and pull off the unexpected like its big brother in July so we’ll see that that was the biggest stressing point of nothing’s off the table the way that people were acting like it was just you know two hours prior to this so I wanted to clear that up now let’s talk about the draft and presser we’ve talked about uh topic a lot on this show since since the draft we talked about Dylan Jones we’re gonna get more to Dylan Jones um in future pods I think he’s gonna be a really good player uh but since our last P they did draft AJ Mitchell AJ Mitchell is one of the more exciting players of this draft class from Santa Barbara this is guy’s a three-level scoer with such such such scoring feeli like he he can score on the ball he can score away from the ball he can score at the three-point line he can score in the mid-range especially and he can really get to the rack and he can really get to the free throw line and that is the biggest indicator of like high level scoring guys is can you draw fouls can you get to the line because that’s the difference right in five points per game and 10 points per game 10 points per game and 15 points per game 15 points per game and 20 points per game and so on and so forth like that getting to that free throw line is the difference so he’s 22 years old you know I think they’ll be on two-way contract by all indications which is good roster spots wise but I think that he could be a two-way guy that actually plays and that actually gets some run he’s in the 90th percentile as a pick and roll ball handler uh that that number CLS climbs to the 94th percentile as a spot up shooter which includes 1.2 points per possession in that scenario I think he really set up his teammates very well uh his catch and shoot numbers are nice uh the floater goes in a 55% clip like this guy is really really good 90th percentile as a ISO score in the 90th percentile again 44% shooting on catch and shoot chances 50% shooting on guarded catch and shoot chances 62% shooting at The Rim 35% shooting off the bounce which he had to do a ton of so like that’s high volume uh pretty good efficiency uh off the bounce uh I think defensively like he can do he can do a lot of different things especially with the developmental program of the Thunder and the blue um and especially whenever he’s surrounded by the the the caliber of athletes that’ll be surrounded by in Oklahoma City but I asked AJ Mitchell one what it’s like to be on such a versal team like what that’s like as a player he exciting and I asked him about the guard to guard screening stuff which he didn’t do a ton of in college gave some good background on like who is as a player we didn’t use that much uh in college uh I think for me growing up I like we used to do that back home in Belgium so kind of used to it uh but I think I think it’ll be a fun adjustment for me uh just playing a different role different way so it’ll be it’ll be pretty cool as a player to come to a team like this that relies so much on versatility is that exciting for you is it kind of a different challenge no for I think it’s exciting for me especially I feel like my game’s pretty complete so just getting better at everything I do will really help me but really excited to be part of this team so I I think that you look and you the the story of AJ Mitchell is so interesting like a guy that grew up in Belgium goes to UC Santa Barbara uh has has of course the NBA talent to get drafted at 38 um and so he he could have transferred in this in this day and age of transfer portal and I money but he elected to stay home Joe Mado asked him about that he gave a really good answer about that as well other programs nil deals like what what kept you at Santa Barbara and like were their you know thoughts of maybe going else I think for me first of all Santa barara really wanted me and really needed me and I feel like for me that was was the most important is being somewhere where I need it and want it so I always fell that was where I wanted to be and I think knowing the coaching that for that long and then also knowing like what were their idea of what was going to happen the next few years I was like this is what I wanted to do and just honored the process and kept working every day no matter where I am and that’s what that’s what happened I thought that was interesting because earlier uh AJ Mitchell mentioned how uh you know the Thunder traded up to go get at 38 and and like if you follow day two they trade Lindy waters for 52 then trade 52 for 40 then get their way to the 38 and draft you know draft AJ Mitchell so like they they went through a long chain to get there and he mentioned how much that that meant to him uh and made him feel wanted obviously a Pros going feel wanted whenever a team drafts him but to go through those Hoops to make sure you get AJ Mitchell it has to feel good especially like the way he talks about how important it was that of how UC Santa Barbara made him feel and how that’s why he stayed loyal whenever he could have went and got some nil deals there’s also some some good quotes from Dylan Jones on that same topic we’ll get into on the other side but I think AJ Mitchell will be a really electrifying player like like he is going to be a lot of fun he I read about him uh three weeks ago on draft digest for second round steals what about Dylan Jones and the all juice team uh so he brings the juice of course coming up let’s talk Dylan Jones let’s talk uh mark on Alex Caruso and more But First Once here right now but good friends over at eBay Motors check out Ebay motors today because they know passion 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your first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you taken Thunder basketball mentioned that Dylan Jones uh you know had some interesting quotes I I think that there was two that stood out number one he mentioned how his unorthodox style and and the Thunder style both fit very well together and they fit like a hand and a glove listen if there’s any team that’s going to maximize uh a a guard that has a 611 wingspan and is built like a fire hydrant it’s going to be the Oklahoma City Thunder so that’s very exciting and uh he was asked about this story so he told a story that um the Thunder last year in the second round wanted to draft him in the second round and he pulled out of the draft and said he wanted to be a first-rounder thunder called him on on the night of the first round this year and said well you told us last year you want to be a first-rounder let’s make that happen for you right now and so was asked about that anecdote and he mentioned how it feels great to have such a great relationship with the best GM in basketball so it’s it’s like uh a unique bond that this organization has with Dylan Mitchell already and vice versa uh one of the things that stood out was about how you know Joe also asked Dylan about the nil stuff and about the ability to transfer and he stayed loyal to to Weber State and it was a unique perspective of how being the guy like being the guy at Weber State allows him to come into the Thunder with a better perspective of what to do and and I don’t think that people always think about that we always think about the the negative of how can you R it back in how can you go from being the star at your you know High School to college to college to the NBA to now just being a comp player and he pointed out that like being the guy lets you see what the guy needs from you know his his peripheral pieces um you know as a as a kind of of course I’m just uh I’m just paraphrasing but you would let him see from that perspective what best makes for you know a a role player T Shay for example and to some of these top guys on this roster so it was just a all around like you could tell that all three guys like you could tell that they had with the high NBA you know basketball you know awareness levels you could speak the game very well um they were awesome to talk to they’re very cordial nice everything they won the press conference today and that was a lot of fun to uh to be a part of but I think that those two answers from Dylan Jones were really really impressive uh one aside here so I feel like that Caruso stuff happened and then the draft happened and now it feels like that was a millennium away this is the first time we got to talk to Mark about the Caruso stuff uh and he mentioned uh a sound bite here about Caruso and about the transaction I think that there’s a very interesting tagline in it um well you know the first thing is you know he’s going to have a good impact on the team he Team guys competitor um you know obviously we were together he was in the organization a while ago um but it’s not a nostalgic move you know it’s a move about the present team and the future and uh he’s really excited to be here he wants to be here he’s excited to get going with the guys and I think he’s going to really be energized by the locker room we have the group we have and Hope well it was not a nostalgic move it was a move to win and a move for the future and a move for the present team I thought that stood out just about Caruso and about how they view this like this was not a well Josh is the want to come off the bench and I we got to do something like this was a mve that they calculated of not only is it a cool story but like beyond the fairy tale this is actually a fantastic basketball move regardless of where he started out in the G League where he started out in his career so that was kind of fun to to uh you have this show for you uh we’re going to have of course a recap show to free agency mailbag Monday everything that you want everything that you need is here for you on lock down Thunder every single day subscribe for free across all podcasting platforms including on YouTube let me know what you thought about kind of weaving in and out of these uh interview clips and until next time be good and be good to one another

The Oklahoma City Thunder have wrapped up the 2024 NBA Draft Class and introduced the rookies, what do we know about the youngsters after their introductory press conferences? The Thunder have declined the options on Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, what happens now ahead of NBA Free Agency?

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