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Bleacher Report: Best and worst contracts on the Thunder

The best and worst contracts on the Thunder, according to @BleacherReport

The Oklahoma City Thunder are in the middle of a rebuild, which means their payroll is filled with rookie-scale deals.

The youngest team in the league comes with that financial benefit. However, there are a few non-rookie deals on the books, and a few pending in the near future.

Bleacher Report writer Zach Buckley decided to scour through the league’s contracts and categorize the best and worst deals on all 30 NBA teams, totaling 60 mentioned players.

Of course, this entire exercise is relative to the current financial landscape of the league. With a new CBA agreement and future TV rights likely significantly increasing the cap in the near future, a lot of these deals could soon look like bargains.

Let’s take a look at which two Thunder players were deemed the best-value and worst-value signings on their current payroll.

Player grades: SGA’s 34 points and game-winner leads Thunder to 101-99 win over Nuggets

Player grades for the Thunder’s 101-99 win over the Nuggets.

The backcourt duo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey have headlined this recent run of success for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

So it was only appropriate they were the only ones to touch the ball on the game-winning basket for the Thunder in their 101-99 win over the Denver Nuggets.

With 11.2 seconds left in a tied game, Gilgeous-Alexander leveraged his way into an open lane and cut to the basket. Giddey, the best inbound passer on the team, recognized this and bounced the ball to an open Gilgeous-Alexander for an eight-foot bank shot.

The Thunder held the Nuggets scoreless on the other end and handed the Nuggets their fourth home loss of the season.

The caveat of the Nuggets missing Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. should not rain on OKC’s parade. The Thunder won a close, hard-fought contest against a first-place Nuggets team that entered on a nine-game winning streak.

With only three Thunder players reaching 10 points, Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey led the way. He finished with 34 points on an efficient 21 shots. Giddey added 18 points and nine rebounds.

Neither team shot the ball well, and both were pretty even in terms of shot volume and efficiency. The Thunder went 40-of-89 (44.9%) from the field and an ugly 7-of-26 (26.9%) from 3. The Nuggets went 36-of-82 (43.9%) from the field and 10-of-28 (35.7%) from 3.

The differences for the Thunder were inside the paint and from the free-throw line.

The Thunder outscored the Nuggets inside the paint, 58-44. Meanwhile, the Nuggets didn’t cash in on their trips to the charity stripe, going a hideous 17-of-33 (51.5%) from the free-throw line.

Without Jokic, it was an ugly, grind-it-out type of game for both teams that saw the Thunder hit timely shots when needed.

The chemistry of Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey continues to grow, and a game-winning shot against the Nuggets is the latest example of that.

For the Nuggets, Jamal Murray led the way. Murray finished with 26 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Aaron Gordon and Zeke Nnaji both collected double-double’s too. Gordon finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds; Nnaji finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Seven of the nine Nuggets players who played scored at least 10 points.

The Thunder will enjoy two days off before starting a three-game homestand. While it wasn’t the prettiest win against a Nuggets team missing their two-time MVP, there’s no need to discredit this impressive road victory.

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.

Best low-cost wing and big man trade targets for the Boston Celtics

The Celtics may add a wing to help take pressure off of their stars, as well as look at a big man who might be able to ease the minute load on the ball club’s frontcourt.

The Boston Celtics will likely make a move or two ahead of the 2023 NBA trade deadline to add a wing to help take some pressure off of their two stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as well as taking a look at a big man who might be able to ease the minutes load on the ball club’s frontcourt.

With Brown and Tatum among the highest minutes-per-night players in the league and bigs Al Horford and Robert Williams III likely also playing more than they ought to be in order to be fresh and at their respective peaks for the 2023 NBA Playoffs, both bigs and wings are likely priorities. And with a hefty tax bill already on the table, cheaper solutions in terms of salary and asset cost that would raise the team’s payroll little or not at all will probably be the preferred route.

With that in mind, we put together a comprehensive list of such options the Celtics might target that wouldn’t need more than a first-round pick (and some much less) plus younger prospects in a reasonable deal.

Celtics Lab 166: On Cs-Dubs rematch and whether Boston has exorcised finals demons with Tommy Call III https://t.co/vdPL3DUrIQ

— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 17, 2023

Player grades: Thunder take care of business against Pacers in 126-106 win

Player grades for the Thunder’s 126-106 win over the Pacers.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t let their collective foot off the gas pedal in their home game on Wednesday.

In the opening minutes, it was clear the Thunder meant business in a 126-106 win against the Indiana Pacers.

With the Thunder collecting confidence in recent weeks, they avoided a lackadaisical loss against the Pacers. This matchup had trap game written all over it, but to OKC’s credit, it opened with a 17-1 run and never looked back. The Thunder led by as many as 29.

“The team is growing in confidence and it’s a collective confidence,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said.

A historic night in the assist department helped the Thunder. They dished out a franchise-record 41 assists on 47-of-93 (50.5%) shooting. The 41 assists on 47 made shots is an absurd number. From outside, the Thunder shot 16-of-38 (42.1%) from 3.

A 42-point third quarter pushed the Thunder to triple digits and grew their lead to 27 points, essentially turning the fourth quarter into garbage time.

It was a team effort. Nobody took more than 17 shots and seven of the 11 Thunder players who played scored at least 10 points. The Thunder are developing their chemistry and continuing to play in sync.

Meanwhile, the Pacers with a similar record of 23-23, are heading the opposite direction. They have lost five consecutive games.

The Pacers never really got anything going without Tyrese Haliburton. Rookie Andrew Nembhard had the most notable performance. He finished with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting, seven assists and five rebounds.

Outside of that though, not much. Prolific high-volume 3-point sniper Buddy Hield scored three points on 1-of-4 shooting from 3 in 19 minutes.

The Pacers were held to 44 points on 39% shooting in the first half. Overall, the Pacers shot 39-of-94 (41.5%) from the field and committed an eye-popping 23 turnovers, which led to 36 Thunder points.

After the first quarter, it was clear where this game was heading: The Thunder built a 16-point lead.

With the win, the Thunder stay in the playoff race. The Thunder sit in ninth place and are just 1.5 games behind fifth-place Dallas. Only 2.5 games separate eight teams in the Western Conference standings.

If the Thunder continue to stay within playoff range, expect the fifth- to 12th-place teams to continuously shift.

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.

Bleacher Report floats two forwards and a center as Boston Celtics trade deadline targets

Boston’s bench could use a little more help — these are some names being floated for the job.

We are now within a month of the NBA’s official trade deadline for the 2022-23 NBA season, with the big day coming on Thursday, Feb. 9 with all deals called in to the league office by 3 pm in order to be completed.

And with each day that passes that gets us closer to that day, new projections about what the Boston Celtics and the other 29 teams around the league might try to make happen on the trade market to set themselves up for the future. Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report put together an updated list of potential trade targets for the Celtics and the rest of the league to such an end.

Let’s take a look at who he thinks Boston ought to make calls about, and see if we agree.

Player grades: Thunder falls to Heat’s historic free throw performance in 112-111 loss

Player grades for the Thunder’s 112-111 loss to the Heat.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were not able to overcome history in a 112-111 loss to the Miami Heat.

In their first game on national TV in over two years, the young Thunder impressed as they battled the short-handed Miami Heat.

The catalyst for the Heat’s win happened while the game clock was stopped.

The Heat went a historically perfect 40-of-40 from the free-throw line. This broke the 1982 Utah Jazz’s record for most team free-throws made without a miss at 39.

The 40th free-throw was a poetic one as Jimmy Butler — who made 23 of the Heat’s 40 free throws — gave the Heat the one-point lead with 12.2 seconds left.

This came after Kenrich Williams — a career 52.9% free-throw shooter — missed a pair of free throws that could’ve extended the Thunder’s two-point lead.

The Thunder were unable to answer on the other side and fell short.

Butler also made individual history as well, as he registered the first regular season game in NBA history history where someone scored at least 35 points on six or fewer made shots.

The trio of Butler, Victor Oladipo and Max Strus carried the offensive load for the shorthanded Heat as they combined to score 76 of the Heat’s 112 (67.9%) points.

The Heat were without their starting lineup minus Butler due to several injuries. Ten Heat players were listed on their injury report heading into the game.

Butler finished with 35 points on 6-of-17 shooting and 23-of-23 from the free-throw line. Strus finished with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting. Off the bench, Oladipo finished with 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting.

The Herculean efforts from these three — specifically Butler — were much needed. The Heat had nine available players to start the game. By the middle of the second quarter, that number dropped to eight as a result of Dewayne Dedmon’s ejection for throwing a massage gun onto the court — yes, that’s a real thing that happened.

For the Thunder, it was a sloppy game on offense. The Thunder shot 44-of-91 (48.4%) from the field and 9-of-35 (25.7%) from 3. The Thunder also committed 18 turnovers and although the Heat had 19 of their own, it’s still bad basketball security.

The saving grace in the Thunder’s loss was the individual performances of their young backcourt, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey. Both were phenomenal and provided a national audience a glimpse of the future.

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.

Player grades: SGA’s ‘cool’ 33 points leads Thunder past Luka-less Mavericks in 120-109 win

Player grades for the Thunder’s 120-109 win over the Mavericks on Sunday.

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Thunder used a 36-21 second-quarter advantage to lead them to a 120-109 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

The Thunder shot 46-of-94 (48.9%) from the field. From outside, the Thunder shot 12-of-28 (42.9%) on 3s. The Thunder ate well inside the paint too, outscoring the Mavericks 56-24.

A funny result considering the size difference between both teams.

After being up by 14 points at halftime, the Thunder cruised in the second half, maintaining their advantage to win their second consecutive game.

Without Luka Doncic, the Mavericks’ offense didn’t miss a beat. The Mavericks shot 31-of-73 (42.5%) from the field and went 14-of-39 (35.9%) from 3. That was a surprising result considering how heliocentric the Mavericks’ offense is as it revolves around Doncic.

Christian Wood led the Mavericks with 27 points and 16 rebounds. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 21 points on 6-of-16 shooting and dished out eight assists. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 19 points.

Outside of that trio though, not much else from the Mavericks cast.

What cost the Mavericks the game was a large shot total difference. The Thunder took 21 more field goal attempts, a massive gulf. Unless the Mavericks were white hot, it would’ve been nearly impossible to make up that difference.

The Thunder will play their first game on TNT in nearly three years when they travel to the Miami Heat on Tuesday while riding a two-game winning streak.

It’s the first time a national audience will be able to watch the Thunder’s young core play since the rebuild began. If the Thunder are going to make a lasting impression, it’ll be beneficial for it to happen in their next game.

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.

Player grades: Small Thunder fail to stop Magic inside the paint in 126-115 loss

Player grades for the Thunder’s 126-115 loss to the Magic.

Playing on the second night of a home-and-road back-to-back, the Oklahoma City Thunder were not able to steal a road game against a well-rested Orlando Magic, 126-115.

With the Thunder getting smaller after every injury, the gigantic Magic were able to take advantage of their significant size. This was evident in the boards and paint points department. The Magic outrebounded the Thunder, 49-36. The Magic also outscored the Thunder in the paint, 48-30.

The Thunder could not overcome their size difference with hot outside shooting because the Magic were equally on fire from 3. The Thunder shot 15-of-37 (40.5%) from 3, but the Magic shot 13-of-33 (39.4%) from 3.

The Thunder made a run in the third quarter as they outscored the Magic, 35-23, and cut their lead to as little as seven points. The Magic counterpunched and squashed any hope of a comeback attempt with a 31-27 advantage in the fourth quarter.

For the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander headlined the game, scoring 33 points a day after battling sickness.

Gilgeous-Alexander did most of his scoring at the free-throw line with a 17-of-18 night. This highlighted huge free-throw numbers for both teams as the Thunder went 28-of-31 (90.3%) and the Magic went 29-of-36 (80.6%) from the charity stripe.

For the Magic, Paolo Banchero continues to improve his rookie of the year odds with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Banchero used his massive 6-foot-10, 250-pound frame to bully the Thunder inside. Wendell Carter Jr. continues to own the Thunder with 13 points and 13 rebounds.

A day after turning in their most impressive performance of the season, it’s only normal the Thunder would lay an egg in Orlando. While it will not publicly be said, you have to wonder how much travel fatigue factored into this lackadaisical performance.

Playing back-to-back’s are rough as it is, but that was especially the case for the Thunder this time around.

The Thunder played a 7 p.m. CT game on Tuesday night and immediately after the game flew to Florida, where they didn’t arrive until after 2 a.m. CT. Then the Thunder had a quick turnaround a played an earlier-than-usual game for them at 6 p.m. CT.

Just reading all that exhausted me. I can only imagine what experiencing it must’ve felt like.

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.

Player grades: SGA game-winner steals spotlight from Damian Lillard in 123-121 win over Trail Blazers

Player grades from the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 123-121 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

OKLAHOMA CITY – With the 2022 All-Star voting opening on Thursday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might benefit from recency bias.

In a back-and-forth contest between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers, Gilgeous-Alexander hit the game-winning shot for the last of 13 lead changes to go along with 13 ties.

Neither team had a lead larger than 10 points and the final minute had four lead changes.

With three seconds left, Gilgeous-Alexander worked his way to the left baseline with a single dribble and attempted a 14-foot pull-up jumper he swished as the final buzzer sounded.

Despite the Thunder only having 10 players available, Gilgeous-Alexander carried the team to its second consecutive win against a Western Conference playoff opponent.

That is a pretty awesome night for Gilgeous-Alexander considering he was dealing with a lower back contusion that caused him to miss one game and be listed on the injury report for this one.

On a night in which Damian Lillard became the leading scorer in Trail Blazers history, Gilgeous-Alexander had all the attention on him as he once again hit another game-winner.

For the Trail Blazers, Lillard led the way with 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting and 6-of-12 from 3. ‘Dame Time’ was fully activated as he scored six points in the fourth quarter. After receiving a warm welcome, Jerami Grant also contributed with 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting and eight rebounds.

Anfernee Simons finished with 19 points and Josh Hart had 13 points.

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.