Oklahoma City Thunder’s team talent increased this past season when they acquired Enes Kanter and Steve Novak in one trade deadline deal, D.J. Augustin and Kyle Singler in another deadline deal and earlier in the season they got Dion Waiters. Their talent is undeniable, especially at the top with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook but they appear to be looking at dumping some of their deep bench guys.
Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb and Steve Novak, three bench guys for OKC, have been made expendable now that the team expects to have a fully healthy roster going into next season. These panic trades made last year now might end up helping them acquire some younger talent.
Following from Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
OKC has shopped Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb and Steve Novak the last few days, per league sources. Financially motivated, but looking for pick.
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) June 23, 2015
Unfortunately for Jones and Lamb, during their tenures with the Thunder, they were just buried on the bench. Its no fault of their own, they have some talent and probably could do very well if given the proper minutes. The issue is, they were on the roster at the same time more talented guys were on the team. Jeremy Lamb was never going to get more minutes over James Harden, Thabo Sefolosha or even Andre Roberson and Perry Jones wasn’t going tot going to play over Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka or Enes Kanter. For the young guys, it was a tough situation.
As for Steve Novak, he was a throw-in for the Enes Kanter deal so he might also be a throw-in for another trade as the draft approaches. The Thunder have the 14th and 48th picks in the 2015 NBA Draft and they will be looking to make their team even younger by giving away some of their talent, maybe even on draft day, to get more picks in this deep draft. The day that many NBA GMs believe is going to be a busy one for NBA Teams.
