Category: Rumors

Trade rumors ‘not a distraction’ for Gallinari, Thunder

Despite increased chatter around a potential trade that would send him to Miami, Danilo Gallinari scored 15 points in OKC’s win Wednesday.

They’re not a distraction.

That’s the message from Danilo Gallinari as trade rumors continue to swirl surrounding the status of the veteran forward ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.

Earlier Wednesday evening, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Pat Riley was interested in pursuing both Andre Iguodala and Gallinari and that the Heat had discussed a potential deal for OKC’s second-leading scorer.

Despite all that, Gallinari was in the starting lineup on Wednesday night. He scored 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor to go along with five rebounds.

When asked after the game about the rumors and if they have an effect on him mentally, Gallinari said they weren’t a problem and praised his parents for helping him not allow external discussions to become a distraction.

“My parents taught me a great thing when I was a little kid not to read newspapers or follow the media, so I really don’t follow any kind of that stuff, especially on game day. On game day I’m just focused on the game.”

Dennis Schroder echoed the sentiment that the Thunder aren’t letting the rumors get to them, and told Maddie Lee of The Oklahoman that the team knows their GM has their best interests at heart.

“Sam Presti is probably the best GM I’ve ever seen, so he’s an honest person. When it happens, it’s probably for the business.”

Late Wednesday night, Woj updated the situation surrounding the potential trade, citing sources that said Memphis, Miami, and OKC were “working on an elaborate three-team deal” that would send Gallinari to the Heat.

Per CBS Sports, Memphis agreed to trade Iguodala to the Heat earlier on Wednesday night.

According to the latest from Woj, the deal from the Grizzlies, Miami, and OKC could take to Thursday to complete.

Woj: Thunder keeping options open during trade deadline

Are the Thunders sellers? Will they hold steady? Will the be buyers?

Woj: “They don’t feel a pressure that they have to do anything.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been one of the pleasant surprises of the NBA season. Even after trading their two best players in the offseason, the Thunder enter Wednesday two and a half games out of the fourth seed.

That gives them options at the trade deadline. Adrian Wojnarowski said they’re open to listening to offers, but they’re also willing to stick with who they have and deal with their free agents when summer rolls around.

“(General manager) Sam Presti is essentially telling people, ‘Come with your best offers,'” Wojnarowski said.

The likeliest candidates for trade are Dennis Schroder, Danilo Gallinari and Steven Adams, but each are key parts to the Thunder.

Schroder is playing the best basketball of his career. Gallinari leads the NBA in offensive rating since Thanksgiving. Adams continues to do Adams things.

“Essentially, they’re saying we can go into summer and keep these guys, we can do a sign-and-trade for Gallinari, or we can move him now if we get a deal we like,” Wojnarowski said.

It sounds like they’ll have to be wooed to make a move. The Lakers reportedly reached out about Schroder, but ESPN’s Dave McMenamin tweeted they don’t want to trade him unless they get a “hefty return.”

“I think they’re open for business,” Wojnarowski said. “It’s possible they do one deal, it’s possible they do multiple deals or none, but they don’t feel a pressure that they have to do anything.”

Anything’s possible.

Even the Thunder buying instead of being sellers.

“They’ve made those calls too,” Wojnarowski said.

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Reports: Lakers reached out about Dennis Schroder’s availability

The Los Angeles Lakers inquired about Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Dennis Schroder, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

The Los Angeles Lakers, in win-now mode, are in search of another ball handler and scorer.

They reached out to the Oklahoma City Thunder about point guard Dennis Schroder, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

Schroder is averaging 19.1 points, 4.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds on a career-high 47% shooting from the field and almost 39% from 3.

The Lakers have use for his playmaking ability and shooting as a point guard to take minutes from Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso.

However, McMenamin said discussions did not last long. The Thunder, holding the seventh seed in the Western Conference and just 2.5 games out of fourth, are looking to continue competing this year.

Outside Kyle Kuzma, the Lakers don’t have many enticing trade pieces.

“(The Thunder) were not looking to move him without a hefty return,” McMenamin tweeted.

The trade deadline is 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday afternoon.

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Report: Atlanta ‘has had talks’ with OKC about trade for Steven Adams

Adams is due to make $55.3 million over the next two seasons. He’s the player with the second-highest salary on the Thunder this year.

Steven Adams continues to draw attention from teams around the league as the Feb. 6 trade deadline approaches.

The Thunder big man still has two years left on his contract and has the second-highest salary on the team this season at $25.8 million. He’s due to make $27.5 million in 2020-21, the final year on his current deal.

With a rebuild still believed to be on the horizon, Adams is one of the players that Oklahoma City has made available, and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Atlanta Hawks might be ramping up their interest in trading for the seventh-year center.

Atlanta has been interested in acquiring a starting level center and has talked with Houston about Capela and Oklahoma City about Steven Adams, league sources said.

The Hawks’ interest in Adams has reportedly gone up ever since talks with the Detroit Pistons regarding Andre Drummond deteriorated over the last several weeks.

Adams has spent his entire career in Oklahoma City after being drafted by the organization in 2013.

His point production is the lowest it’s been since the 2015-16 season when he averaged just 8.0 points per game, but Adams has been hampered by nagging injuries this year.

When is his on the court, Adams is completing 60% of his shots, an increase over last year that can be linked to the Thunder’s acquisition of Chris Paul in the offseason. Paul has long been considered one of the best passers in the game and Adams is clearly benefitting from playing alongside him.

Prior to Paul, Adams also played alongside one of the league’s best in Russell Westbrook, and it’s because of that dynamic that Ashish Mathur of Clutch Points believes Adams would be a solid addition in Atlanta.

Adams figures to mesh well with Hawks point guard Trae Young, who is one of the best passers in the NBA. Adams flourished playing with Westbrook, so odds are he would do the same with Young.

Previous reports have indicated that the Thunder’s asking price for Adams was “too high”, with Sean Deveney of Heavy.com revealing that sources told him OKC was “seeking a draft pick, a young player and salary relief” in return for Adams.

If a deal with the Hawks were to be made for Adams, Jordan Greer of Sporting News points out there are several players Atlanta could use to make the money work, including Chandler Parsons, Evan Turner, or Allen Crabbe in addition to a first-round pick.

Report: Miami has ‘expressed interest’ in Danilo Gallinari

According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, the Miami Heat have expressed interest in Danilo Gallinari ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.

Over the next three days, it seems like everyone for Oklahoma City might be in play as the clock ticks down on the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

The Thunder has been one of the more interesting cases this season. They were thought to be one of the big sellers, but their surprising success has put a lynchpin in their rebuilding process, if even only for the moment.

That’s not to say that OKC hasn’t made players available. They have. The team has made it known that Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari, and Steven Adams are among the players on the trading block.

But so far, the only deal that has been made was sending Justin Patton and cash to the Dallas Mavericks in return for Isaiah Roby.

Gallinari has been linked to a number of teams in terms of potential trades, and according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, Miami can be added to the list of possible destinations.

Both Miami and Denver will look other places for help, too; the Heat are among teams who have expressed interest in Danilo Gallinari, for instance, sources say.

Gallinari is second on the Thunder in scoring this season, averaging 19.2 points per game and shooting 44.1% from the floor. Though his 3-point percentage is down slightly from a year ago, he’s been a crucial part of the Oklahoma City offense, providing a stretch-four option that has opened the floor for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schroder.

Lowe also points out that “this summer’s cap crunch also might give the Thunder some leverage in the sign-and-trade market with Gallinari”, who is in the final year of his contract and making $22.6 million this season.

Other teams that have reportedly been interested in Gallinari including the Philadelphia 76ers, the Dallas Mavericks, the Phoenix Suns, and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Sam Presti being mentioned as potential target for Knicks

According to Sam Bondy of the New York Daily News, Knicks owner James Owner could be interested in bringing Presti to NY’s front office.

The New York Knicks are looking to make some more personnel moves this year.

They already fired head coach Dave Fizdale on Dec. 6 after starting the season 4-18. But things haven’t gotten much better. In the nearly two months since then, the team has won only 10 games, including a 92-85 victory over the Pacers on Saturday night.

Apparently, Knicks owner James Dolan might not be satisfied with just getting rid of Fizdale. Rumor is that Dolan could be looking to clean house in the front office.

And Sam Presti is reportedly one of the potential replacements that he’s interested in.

According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, Dolan could look to bring in Presti, that is if he’s unable to get Raptors General Manager Masai Ujiri.

“Dolan would love to pry Masai Ujiri out of Toronto, but there’s skepticism it can done with the team president under contract. Such a deal would be very complicated if the Raptors play hardball. Another name being mentioned around the league is Thunder president Sam Presti.”

Presti has been on Dolan’s radar for some time now. And considering the Thunder’s success this season, it’s not really surprising.

2019-20 was supposed to be a rebuilding year in Oklahoma City after Presti traded away both Paul George and Russell Westbrook during the offseason.

In return, Presti brought in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and Chris Paul, along with a boatload of draft picks.

Those pieces have fit together better than anyone could’ve anticipated, and instead of being at the bottom of the Western Conference, the Thunder are sitting solidly in seventh place and on their way to a postseason appearance.

Presti is only 43, and under his leadership, Oklahoma City has 10 winning seasons in 12 years, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2012.

When it comes to Presti’s potential interest in New York, previous reports have indicated that Presti could be allowed to leave if an opportunity presented itself.

Report: NBA execs ‘could see’ Sam Presti moving Andre Roberson

Roberson has not played in a game for OKC since rupturing his left patellar tendon on Jan. 27, 2018. He moved his rehab to LA in December.

There have been a lot of questions surrounding Andre Roberson for the past two seasons.

Most of them about when he might be able to play again.

But it sounds like the conversation is starting to change to where he might play again. And according to Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report, there’s talk around the league that it might not be in Oklahoma City.

At the start of the season, it was anticipated that general manager Sam Presti would be prepared to flip both center Steven Adams and forward Danilo Gallinari for future assets, but with the Thunder unexpectedly entrenched as a playoff team, rival executives could see Presti limiting his activity to moving Andre Roberson and his expiring $10.7 million contract, primarily for cap relief with the Thunder currently edging over the luxury tax threshold.

This isn’t the first time that Roberson’s name has come up in conjunction with the possibility of a trade.

In a January report, Erik Gee of Sports Illustrated said that ESPN’s Bobby Marks had tapped Roberson as a player to “keep an eye on” as the trade deadline neared. Gee called the idea “intriguing”.

The thought behind trading Roberson is someone might be willing to take him off (Sam) Presti’s hands because of his expiring contract if the Thunder were willing to part with a first-round pick. Not having to pay the rest of Roberson’s 10.7 million dollar contract could allow the Thunder to be buyers at the trade deadline.

The question would likely be how difficult is it to move a player that hasn’t played in more than two years? Especially when there’s no indication that he’ll play again any time soon.

Roberson just passed the two-year anniversary of the day he ruptured his left patellar tendon. Though he’s been believed to be close to full-strength several times, he has yet to return and moved his rehab to Los Angeles in December.

If Bucher is correct in that Presti would limit his activity to trying to move Roberson, it would indicate that at least for now, the rebuild is at a standstill. And that the organization is going to go with what got them to this point in the season, and hope that it’s enough to carry them to the playoffs.

Report: Knicks ‘high’ on Thunder guard Dennis Schroder

Schroder is third on the team in scoring this season at 19.1 points per game and is shooting a career-high 47.2% from the floor.

Oklahoma City’s three point guard lineup is a large part of why the Thunder has been so successful this season.

OKC went 12-5 in the month of January and are in the midst of a seven-game road-winning streak, the second-longest in franchise history.

The situation in Oklahoma City couldn’t be more different than the situation in New York.

The Knicks are, well, still the Knicks.

They were 13-36 coming into Saturday, fresh off a fourth-quarter brawl in a blowout home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night.

The way it stands, the New York Knicks are in need of a lot of things, and a new general manager is rumored to be one of them.

According to Stefan Bondy of New York Daily News, another one of those things is a point guard. And the Knicks have reportedly got their sights set on one from Oklahoma City.

One thing to keep in mind: the Knicks are looking for a point guard and, according to a source, are high on OKC’s Dennis Schroder.

Schroder has been excellent in his sixth-man role for the Thunder this season.

He’s third on the team in scoring (barely), averaging 19.1 points while playing starter’s time, spending 31.1 minutes per game on the court.

He is shooting a career-best 47.2% from the floor and has raised his 3-point percentage to 38.8%, up from 34.1% a year ago.

Playing the point wouldn’t be something new for Schroder either.

As noted by Ashish Mathur of Clutch Points, “the German floor general has experience as a starter in the NBA, as he was the starting point guard for the Atlanta Hawks before the Thunder acquired him from Atlanta.”

From 2016 through 2018, Schroder started a total of 145 games at point guard for the Hawks.

Contractually, Schroder is making $15.5 million both this year and next year. The 2020-21 season is the last on his current contract before he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2021.

Report: Clips could be ‘willing to risk’ bringing Paul back to LA

Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report believes if there’s one team willing to take on Chris Paul’s contract, it would be the Los Angeles Clippers.

With the February 6 trade deadline fast approaching, expect that amount of rumors and speculation swirling throughout the league to ramp up a notch.

So it’s no surprise that potential scenarios are being thrown out for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that was defied expectations and has landed in the difficult position of asking should we be sellers or should we stay where we are?

Should Sam Presti decide to go full-on sell (as many people in the NBA expect him to do), one of biggest issues facing the Oklahoma City GM is whether or not to continue to try and trade Chris Paul?

So far, the Thunder haven’t had any luck in that department.

But Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report has an idea. He suggested that OKC could send Paul back to the Los Angeles Clippers.

His reasoning? The Clippers are probably the only team willing to take a chance on Paul given the fact that he’s already been adamant about not turning down his $44.2 million player option for the 2021-22 season.

Paul has been brilliant with the Thunder this season, leading them to a 28-19 record, only one game behind his old Houston Rockets squad. The 34-year old is averaging 17.2 points, 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals while shooting 48.3 percent overall.

Despite all of their star power, the Clippers are 24th in assist percentage this year (56.6 percent) and 20th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.54). Paul would unlock the offense by finding open shooters and getting the ball to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in their preferred spots.

While the Thunder wouldn’t get a bundle of draft picks for Paul like they did for Paul George, Swartz believes the Clippers could make it work by sending Patrick Beverly, Maurice Harkless, Ivica Zubac and Rodney McGruder to Oklahoma City.

In this scenario, Swartz notes that Los Angeles could also ask for “additional draft compensation from the Thunder in exchange for the salary relief they would be providing while sending back some usable players.”

Paul has said recently that he’s happy in Oklahoma City and neither he nor his agent has asked for a trade.

But when asked about retirement, he said he wanted to retire in a place he felt appreciated and that was he was in L.A. he “wanted to end it there”.

The Clippers are currently second in the Western Conference while Oklahoma City is in seventh.

The Thunder are back in action Wednesday night in Sacramento.

Report: Andre Roberson could be on the move

According to Erik Gee of Sports Illustrated, Roberson is one of the players to keep an eye on as the Feb. 6 trade deadline gets closer.

There may still be moves to make for Oklahoma City ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

While names like Danilo Gallinari and Steven Adams have already been mentioned in conjunction with multiple teams, there are a couple of new news that have popped up as potential trades.

Per Erik Gee of Sports Illustrated, the name that is the most “intriguing” is Andre Roberson.

The thought behind trading Roberson is someone might be willing to take him off (Sam) Presti’s hands because of his expiring contract if the Thunder were willing to part with a first-round pick. Not having to pay the rest of Roberson’s 10.7 million dollar contract could allow the Thunder to be buyers at the trade deadline.

Roberson has been sidelined since suffering a ruptured left patellar tendon on Jan. 27, 2018 and is coming up on two full years without playing competitively in a game.

While Billy Donovan had indicated at the start of training camp that Roberson could be back sometime this season, Roberson moved his rehab to Los Angeles in December and appears to be no closer to a return.

As noted by Gee, ESPN’s Bobby Marks also suggested that Mike Muscala could be on the trading block. Muscala has shot the ball extremely well lately, making four or more 3-pointers in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Oklahoma City made their first trade of the season on Friday when they sent Justin Patton and cash to the Mavericks in a deal for rookie forward Isaiah Roby. According to Marks, the trade is conditional upon Roby reporting and passing a physical.

The Thunder play in the second game of a back-to-back on Saturday night when they travel to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves.