Report: Thunder acquire Victor Oladipo, draft picks in trade with Heat

The Thunder continue to add draft picks by taking on expiring deals.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder brought back a familiar face on the first day of free agency via a trade.

The Thunder agreed to send a $9.5 million trade exception to the Miami Heat in exchange for Victor Oladipo and draft picks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Oladipo is an expiring salary and is owed $9.5 million in the 2023-24 season. The 31-year-old suffered a torn patellar tendon on his left knee on April 23. The injury will likely cost him most — if not all — of next season.

It’s unknown if the Thunder will keep Oladipo on their roster as he will likely never suit up for them. If he stays, it will mark his second stint at OKC. Oladipo spent one season with the Thunder (2016-17) before he was traded to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George.

In 42 games last season, Oladipo averaged 10.7 points on 39.7% shooting, 3.5 assists and three rebounds. He also shot 33% from 3 on five attempts.

The Thunder entered the offseason with more than $30 million to spend in cap space and have essentially used that to buy more draft capital with this trade and the Cason Wallace draft night trade that attached Davis Bertans’ contract.

UPDATE: The Thunder reportedly acquired the Heat’s 2029 and 2030 second-round picks while sending a second-round pick back to the Heat.

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Decision date approaching for 4-star OT Marques Easley

Is Georgia in the mix for 4-star OT Marques Easley?

Out of Kankakee, Illinois, 4-star offensive tackle Marques Easley ranks as the nation’s No. 205 overall player in the class of 2024, according to 247Sports.

Also according to 247Sports, Easley is projected to commit to the Georgia Bulldogs, with one crystal ball prediction in the Bulldogs’ favor on his player profile page.

That commitment date is coming soon, with Easley expected to announce his college decision on July 8 at 3 p.m. ET from Kankakee High School.

Easley will be deciding between Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. The Bulldogs actually were not in Easley’s top-three that he tweeted in mid-June, but 247Sports is confident that the Dawgs’ are in good shape regardless.

The 6-foot-6, 340 pound Easley visited Georgia on June 2.

Georgia currently has two players committed on the offensive line right now in its top ranked 2024 recruiting class. There’s reportedly a silent commit as well on the o-line. According to the recruiting experts at 247Sports, Georgia’s plan is to take five signees on the offensive line, meaning there’s only room for two more.

Dennis Schroder is leaving the Lakers — and getting paid

Dennis Schroder may no longer be a member of the Lakers, but he has secured the bag.

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This past season, one of the more underrated signings for the Los Angeles Lakers was guard Dennis Schroder.

He had played for them during the 2020-21 campaign, and although he did well that year, he left a bad taste in people’s mouths by publicly campaigning for a huge contract extension of at least $100 million.

Schroder didn’t get that deal. In fact, the only deal he was offered in the summer of 2021 was a mere $5.9 million by the Boston Celtics.

But he returned to the Lakers for this past season, and this time, he made a solid impression while providing defense, ball-handling, occasional scoring and plenty of grit.

The team had some desire to keep him this offseason, but he is leaving to join the Toronto Raptors on a two-year, $26 million contract.

The Raptors lost guard Fred VanVleet on Friday. He signed a huge deal with the Houston Rockets. Schroder will help soften the blow of VanVleet’s departure.

The Lakers signed Gabe Vincent on Friday, who is a plucky 6-foot-2 guard known for his defense, and he could presumably be Schroder’s replacement next season.

Top three guards in the Big Ten for 2023

Ohio State football has one of the top guards in the Big Ten #GoBucks #B1G

When diving into the offensive lines of the Big Ten, there is a ton of elite talent, but at the bookends at offensive tackle there is not as much depth. When diving into the interior and especially guard, the Big Ten has a ton of elite talent.

This list was hard to narrow down to just three guys as five players come to mind when discussing elite interior linemen. When talking about tackles, Ohio State didn’t have any talent that made the list, but the Buckeyes have a monster at guard that could make some serious noise.

Let’s dive into our top three guards in the Big Ten.

Lakers, D’Angelo Russell could agree to two-year, $40 million deal

The Lakers are reportedly “trending toward” keeping guard D’Angelo Russell on a reasonable new contract.

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On Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers opened free agency by making a couple of notable additions to their roster.

They brought in Taurean Prince, a 3-and-D forward, and Gabe Vincent, a ballsy guard known for his defense and helped the Miami Heat reach the NBA Finals this season. Los Angeles also took a flyer on forward Cam Reddish, a former lottery pick who is yet to pan out.

But the team’s main objective has been to keep as much of its core intact as possible.

It came to terms with forward Rui Hachimura on a new contract, and it reportedly is trending toward also retaining guard D’Angelo Russell, possibly on a reasonable two-year deal (h/t Lakers Daily).

Via Yahoo Sports:

“The other strong word out of Hollywood is that the Lakers are trending toward bringing back D’Angelo Russell after acquiring him from the (Minnesota) Timberwolves at February’s trade deadline,” wrote Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports. “Early indications are that Russell and the Lakers could come to terms on a two-year, $40 million deal with the second year a team option or non-guaranteed.”

Russell’s arrival in February was one of the biggest reasons the Lakers went from a lottery-bound team to one that made it to the Western Conference finals.

Keeping him would be an excellent way for them to keep LeBron James’ workload manageable as the four-time MVP heads toward his 39th birthday in late December.

Wisconsin offers a 6-foot-4 small forward out of the Badger State

Wisconsin offers a 6-foot-4 small forward out of the Badger State

The Badgers made another 2025 basketball offer this week as Wisconsin extended an offer to LaTrevion Fenderson.

Fenderson plays his high school basketball at The Prairie School in the Badger State. The Badgers are his first offer on the record. He is only 15 years old, and Wisconsin is getting in early.

He had a fantastic sophomore campaign where he averaged 17.1 points per game and nearly 11 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-5 and as a player with an already well-developed all-around game, a number of big-time teams should be involved later on in his recruitment.

Wisconsin now has eight offers that have gone out in the 2025 class.

USC moves up to No. 6 class in 2024 cycle with its 16th commitment

Like the Price is Right mountain climber, #USC just keeps rising in the recruiting rankings. Up, up, up!

The USC Trojans landed their 16th commitment of the 2024 recruiting class on Friday evening. They gained a commitment from Texas-based safety Braylon Conley.

The recruiting services give Conley a mixture of three- and four-star ratings, but the rating is enough to push USC past Penn State for No. 6 in the 2024 recruiting rankings. This means USC is now third in the Big Ten, ahead of PSU but still behind Michigan and Ohio State.

You can find all 16 USC commits at our 2024 recruiting tracker. After you look at that tracker, you can then consider what we wrote after the Ryan Pellum commitment earlier this week:

“What is also notable is that USC has risen to No. 8 in the national 2024 recruiting rankings on the basis of 13 commitments. If you look at the schools above USC, most of them have at least 20 commitments.

“Georgia has 21. Michigan has 23. Notre Dame has 21. Penn State has 20.”

USC is now up to No. 6 based on 16 commitments. If the Trojans do reach 20 commitments, there’s a very good chance they will elbow their way into the top five.

They definitely aren’t done.

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Braylon Conley, 2024 safety from Texas, commits to USC

USC now has 16 commitments for the 2024 class. This is the second one of the week from the state of Texas.

The USC Trojans picked up another commitment on Friday evening. They ended the month of June with another score on the recruiting trail. Braylon Conley, given three- and four-star ratings by different recruiting services, committed to the Trojans.

Conley, a 2024 prospect from Humble, Texas, is the second Texas-based player to commit to USC this week. Offensive lineman Makai Saina was the first.

A few days ago, Trojans Wire staff writer Donovan James wrote this about Conley:

“He has approximately 30 scholarship offers. A partial listing of schools to offer him: USC, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, TCU, Louisville, Maryland, WisconsinOregonAuburn, Arizona State, Colorado and Washington.

“Conley has a 4.36 grade point average and is considering engineering as a major.”

Education is clearly a selling point for these new USC recruits.

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WATCH: Wisconsin’s weight room is looking very different

Wisconsin’s weight room is looking different these days

New Wisconsin football strength and conditioning coach Brady Collins knows how to get his team fired up. From “dudes of the week” to today’s “squat fest,” Wisconsin has been mixing it up in the weight room and having fun while doing it.

Today’s squat fest looked more like a music festival than a football weight room. The guys were getting after it with a live DJ, strobe lights, and more energy than you could possibly imagine. If there is any way to sum it up it would be that Wisconsin is having fun. Lots of fun.

Check out the sights and sounds from Wisconsin’s first annual squat fest:

Jared Anderson vs. Charles Martin: LIVE updates, results, full coverage

Jared Anderson vs. Charles Martin: LIVE updates, results, full coverage.

Heavyweight contender Jared Anderson defeated Charles Martin by a unanimous decision Saturday at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, Anderson’s hometown.

The official scores were 99-90, 99-90 and 98-91. Boxing Junkie also scored 99-90, nine rounds to one for Anderson.

Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs) failed to scored a knockout for the first time in his professional career but he gained valuable experience against a veteran opponent.

The 23-year-old rising star put Martin (29-4-1, 26 KOs) down in the final seconds of the third round, the only time either man touched the canvas.

However, Anderson endured the scariest moment of his career two rounds later, when Martin, a southpaw, hurt him with a straight left and followed with many more hard, accurate power shots.

Anderson bounced back well in Round 6, doing what he did for most of the rest of the fight. That was to stalk Martin, fight behind his jab and land more than enough accurate power shots to win rounds.

You can read a full report here.

***

Lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason (9-0, 8 KOs) of Cleveland knocked out Alex de Oliveira (20-5, 14 KOs) of Brazil at 2:18 of the second round of a scheduled six-rounder.

Mason outclassed his opponent from the opening bell, outboxing him in the first round and then putting him down and out in the second.

***

Heavyweight contender Makhmudov (18-0, 17 KOs) of Russia stopped Raphael Akpejori (15-2, 14 KOs) of Nigeria in the second round of a scheduled 10-round bout.

Makhmudov put Akpejori down twice in the first round and once in the second, prompting the referee to stop the fight

***

Rising young heavyweight contender Jared Anderson will face veteran Charles Martin on Saturday at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, Anderson’s hometown (ESPN, ESPN+).

The fighters weighed in on Friday. Anderson (14-0, 14 KOs) came in at 243.4 pounds, Martin (29-3-1, 26 KOs) at 250.5.

The featured bouts on the card begin at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in the show.

Boxing Junkie will post the results of the main event and other featured bouts immediately after they end. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.

Full coverage – a fight story, photo gallery and analysis – will follow on separate posts the day of the fight and the following day.

Enjoy the fights!

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