The Oklahoma City Thunder announced Saturday morning that they have assigned Gabriel Deck, Theo Maledon and Isaiah Roby to their G League affiliate — the Oklahoma City Blue.
Deck has averaged 2.2 points in seven games this season. Maledon has averaged 2.8 points in 12 games this season. And Roby has averaged 6.4 points in 13 games this season.
This news should not be surprising. These three have been part of a group of players — including Vit Krejci — who have continuously been called up and down between the Thunder and Blue all season long.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has said multiple times this season that the franchise will use the Blue liberally, especially since they share the same home arena now, to give guys regular playing time that they would not receive with the Thunder.
Gabriel Deck, Theo Maledon & Isaiah Roby assigned to the Blue: pic.twitter.com/3D8aVR9LfT
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) December 11, 2021
Maledon and Roby make sense; both are young players who are just buried in the depth chart. So it is better to give them some run in the G League and help them gain confidence than let them rot on the bench. The Deck situation is a fascinating one as the 26-year-old has not really played this season and is a bit too long in the tooth to be prioritized by the franchise to give developmental minutes. It feels like an odd marriage between the Thunder and Deck that grows more mysterious each Blue assignment he gets.
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