Tag: Kenrich Williams

Bleacher Report names Lakers’ top three trade targets

The Los Angeles Lakers should trade for these three players, according to Bleacher Report.

With the Los Angeles Lakers still grappling with a .500 record past the halfway point of the season, the trade market is one of the few ways the team can search for upgrades.

The Lakers’ vision over the summer included trading for a third star to compliment LeBron James and Anthony Davis. That search produced Russell Westbrook, but the move has not worked out the way L.A. wanted.

The free agent signings primarily consisted of veterans past their primes on one-year deals for the minimum. So far, Kent Bazemore, DeAndre Jordan, Trevor Ariza and Wayne Ellington have all looked washed. Rajon Rondo was traded for little return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

If the Lakers try to trade for upgrades, Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report named one dream, realistic and sneaky target for Los Angeles:

OKC Thunder news: Bleacher Report lists off three potential trade targets for Thunder along with trade destinations for veterans

The Thunder were gifted with three possible trade targets along with trade destinations for Kenrich Williams and Mike Muscala by @BleacherReport

Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz released an article that listed the top three trade candidates for all 30 NBA teams. The trade deadline is 17 days away on Feb. 10.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will probably be sellers this deadline as playoff contenders will call in to see the price of Kenrich Williams, the 27-year-old is averaging 7.1 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 38.2 percent from three in 39 games. Williams’ is also on a cheap contract, as he has a non-guaranteed two million dollar salary for the 2022-23 season that will easily be picked up.

Trading Williams makes sense on in a vacuum. But his recent comments to The Oklahoman’s Joe Mussatto about wanting to stay in Oklahoma City and retire in a Thunder uniform has made things a bit complicated as the human element plays a role — especially with how his teammates and Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault continuously praise him.

With all that said, let’s take a look at the three trade targets Swartz thinks the Thunder should target along with other team’s targets that involve a Thunder player.

OKC Thunder player grades: Thunder fall a point shy of a 28-point comeback against the Bulls

After the Bulls opened the third quarter on a 23-7 run, the Thunder were able to turn things around and make one of the top teams in the league sweat out a win.

Returning home did not cure the Oklahoma City Thunder’s losing streak as the team dropped its sixth straight game after playing a grueling four-game road trip, the longest of the season to date. The comforts of playing in Paycom Center for the first time in nine days were not enough to get a win for the first time in 11 days.

But the fact that the Thunder were able to turn a once-28-point deficit into just a one-point loss is an impressive feat on its own and continues the theme of the season that this team does not give up and continues to fight regardless of what the scoreboard says.

What makes this even more impressive is that the context of this game gave the Thunder even more justified reasons if they were to lose by double digits. The Thunder have played a lot of games recently — 11 games in 21 days — didn’t mix well with the fact that the 29-17 Chicago Bulls are fighting for the first seed and are one of the better teams in the NBA.

The Bulls welcomed back Zach LaVine after missing the last 10 days due to injury and contributed with 23 points and seven assists. The Bulls had three players who scored over 20 points this game in LaVine (23 points), Nikola Vucevic (26 points) and rookie Ayo Dosunmu (a career-high 23 points).

For the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way — like he usually does — with a 31 point and 10 assist double double.

Overall, this was an exciting and encouraging loss for the Thunder. There’s no shame in losing to one of the best teams in the league by just one point. Especially when it happens after the Thunder nearly made a 28-point comeback on tired legs. Great performance and now the Thunder get a chance to rest for a bit as their next game is not until Friday. Let’s take a look at player grades.

OKC Thunder player grades: Road-fatigued Thunder keeps game close in 94-87 loss to the Cavs

The Thunder drop to 14-32 but did a great job at keeping the game close against the up and coming Cavs as they fight travel woes.

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault mentioned before the game that the team went through a lot of adversity just getting to Cleveland from Charlotte after the team’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.

Daigneault said that the team’s bus got stuck on the road due to the icy road conditions that required staff and coach himself to roll up their sleeves and push the bus. Then after that, the team suffered through flight issues; the team’s plane was put on hold for over five hours before finally deciding to switch flights and arrive in Cleveland in the early morning hours. They had to deal with all of this on top of wrapping up a four-game road trip with the second night of a back-to-back.

Now hearing Daigneault describe all that exhausted me, so I can only imagine what the actual players and staff felt like when they finally arrived to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Thunder had every reason to lose by double digits as it felt like everything was working against them. Instead, the team was able to push the most surprising team in the league until the final second of this game. The Cavaliers ultimately won this game, 94-87, but the Thunder deserve a ton of credit for playing on fumes and making this an entertaining game — even if it was a sloppy one. Let’s take a look at player grades.

OKC Thunder news: Kenrich Williams enters health and safety protocols

The Thunder have added Kenrich Williams to health and safety protocols ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Wizards.

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced that Kenrich Williams has entered health and safety protocols and will be out for Tuesday’s game against the Washington Wizards. Williams joins Isaiah Roby as the Thunder’s only two health and safety protocol cases on the roster.

Williams has been one of the Thunder’s better players this season as he has averaged seven points, four rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 38.2 percent from three on two attempts a game. The 27-year-old provides a steady hand in an otherwise youthful roster and has garnered trade interest throughout the league due to this. Williams is in his second season with the Thunder.

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OKC Thunder player grades: Thunder get revenge in Memphis with 102-99 win

The Oklahoma City Thunder were able to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies thanks Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-Josh Giddey duo.

After starting the game in an 18-4 hole against the Memphis Grizzlies, things started to look eerily similar to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s last trip to Tennessee where they lost by 73 points. The margin of defeat wasn’t going to be anywhere close to that, but things were starting to look bleak in the first quarter as the Thunder looked lackadaisical and were struggling to generate points.

But once those opening sluggish minutes passed, the Thunder were able to get things going and make this a game by outscoring the Grizzlies by 14 points in the middle quarters of the game. The Thunder — behind the effort of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — were able to close this out thanks to his six points in the final 1:42 of the game.

It’s amazing what a difference it makes to have three of your four best players available with Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Kenrich Williams as that was not the case last time these two teams met. With the win, the Thunder now have a league-leading six 15+ point comebacks this season. As Thunder head coach Mark Daigneult said after the 73-point defeat, that game did not reflect who the team is and that was clearly shown on Monday. The Thunder wanted to see how Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey would play with both of them on the court more often and this game provided a glimpse as to what the future could hold with that backcourt duo.

Let’s take a look at player grades:

OKC Thunder player grades: Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort lead OKC over Pistons

The Thunder snap an eight-game losing streak as they defeat the Detroit Pistons, 114-103. SGA and Dort combined for 58 points to lead the way.

After losing by an NBA record 73 points last game, the Oklahoma City Thunder had to wait three full days before they could try to wipe away the ugly taste in their mouths. The team had nearly four days to fully process the whooping the Memphis Grizzlies handed them. Players talked all weekend long about how anxious and excited they are to go back out there and prove that the Grizzlies game was an anomaly and did not reflect who they are as a team. This time around, the cavalry arrived in arguably their two best players on the team in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey along with their best bench player in Kenrich Williams all returning tonight.

After looking sluggish in the first half, the Thunder were able to turn it up on both sides of the court in the second as they held the Pistons to just 40 points while. For context, the Thunder scored a season-high 42 points in the fourth quarter as they won a game where they trailed by 18 points. The Thunder now lead the league in 15+ point comebacks after tonight. This is who the 2021-22 Thunder have been; a team that plays above its weight class and keeps games competitive.

So it should not be a surprise that the team played substantially much better with three of its best players returning. Let’s take a look at some player grades:

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault gives injury updates on multiple players

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault gives injury updates on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Kenrich Williams and Derrick Favors

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault spoke with the media Saturday afternoon after practice. In the presser, Daigneault gave updates on Josh Giddey, Kenrich Williams and Derrick Favors by saying all three practiced today. When asked if this means that all three will play on Monday against the Detroit Pistons, Daigneault would not commit to it.

Giddey, the reigning Western Conference Rookie of the Month, has missed the past two games with a non-COVID illness. Williams has missed the last three games due to an ankle injury he suffered last Friday. Favors has missed three straight games with an illness.

Daigneault also said it is too soon to tell on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s status, who is currently in concussion protocol since Thursday.

The Thunder are currently on an eight-game losing streak and are tied for the worst record in the Western Conference with the Houston Rockets at 6-16. The Thunder next play on Monday, Dec. 6 against the 4-18 Pistons.

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Bleacher Report trade proposal has Lakers acquiring Thunder forward

A new trade proposal has the Los Angeles Lakers acquiring this forward from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Los Angeles Lakers have gotten off to an extremely slow start to the season with a 10-11 record.

Los Angeles came into the year with championship aspirations after acquiring Russell Westbrook and filling in the gaps with veteran players, but the collective experience hasn’t yielded much fruit yet.

One roster shortcoming is the wing position. Besides LeBron James, only Trevor Ariza and Kent Bazemore firmly slot into this position. However, Ariza hasn’t played this season because of an injury, and Bazemore played so poorly that he has already fallen out of the rotation. The Lakers want Talen Horton-Tucker to be that guy, but that will take time.

So how can the Lakers improve the position? Bleacher Report suggested a trade in which the Lakers send out their 2023 and 2025 second-round picks for Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams:

After posting the NBA’s best defense a year ago (106.8 rating), the Lakers have slumped to 19th this season (108.5 rating).

No matter how much work LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis put in to make the offense run smoothly, the unit lacks athletic wing defenders who can get stops, especially after L.A. traded Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the offseason.

Williams would be the perfect trade target for Los Angeles. The 6’6″, 210-pound forward can defend multiple positions and knock down open shots. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Thunder allow 8.5 fewer points per 100 possessions with Williams on the floor, which ranks in the 84th percentile.

While he’s made just 12 of 38 three-pointers this season, Williams nailed 44.4 percent of his 117 attempts a year ago, so he has floor-spacing ability. At age 26, he’d bring fresh legs to the Lakers and would be one of the team’s best defenders.

With the Thunder still collecting draft picks, the Lakers could pass along two second-rounders and absorb Williams’ $2 million contract into the Marc Gasol trade exception.

Williams, who turns 27 soon, is solid value for two future second-round picks that may not even help the Lakers by the time those picks come around.

If the Lakers pull the trigger for this type of move, it would first have to follow pursuing more proven win-now players such as Jerami Grant. Williams can help in some areas the Lakers have struggled in, but L.A. must be sure he is the needle mover it needs to have a stronger chance at winning the title this year.

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Thunder F Kenrich Williams expected to miss time with ankle injury

The Thunder may be without Kenrich Williams after the forward suffered an ankle injury against the Wizards.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams suffered a non-contact injury in the fourth quarter of the game Friday against the Washington Wizards when he rolled his ankle upon a landing.

Williams went to the ground clutching his ankle and remained there for a couple minutes before being helped off the floor. He was ruled out of the game shortly after.

On Saturday, head coach Mark Daigneault provided an injury update for the forward.

“It’s pretty swollen. Kind of what we expected,” Daigneault said. “We’re expecting him to miss a little bit of time.”

Daigneault said it is more serious than the right ankle sprain that forced Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to miss two games over the past week.

“Shai’s was like a little turn,” Daigneualt said. “(Williams) kind of sat on it. His body weight came down on it. It was a pretty ugly one.”

He did not provide a timetable.

Williams had played a very good game up to the point of the injury, scoring 11 points, grabbing five rebounds — three on the offensive glass — and drawing multiple charges. He was a plus-seven in 24 minutes on the court.

However, the Thunder lost 101-99 to the Wizards.

Williams’ numbers are down a bit from last season, but he has continued to be a very active and productive player on both ends of the court. Over his last four games, he has averaged 8.5 points while shooting 71.4% from the field on 5.3 attempts per game.

Oklahoma City has a full weekend without games, but the team will likely be without him on Monday night when the Thunder take on the Houston Rockets. OKC will try to break a five-game losing streak when that game arrives.

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