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The Italian acknowledged that the move to Oklahoma City ultimately worked out well for both himself and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but maintained his position: “He should give that money to charity. He should pay all $50 million, not just $700,000.”
![“It happens every year in the NBA. The [Oklahoma City] …](https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/gcdn/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/players/1232325.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
The Sixers weren’t the only Eastern team to make big moves. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Klay Thompson joined Bam Adeabayo and Andrew Wiggins in Miami, and the Toronto Raptors traded for Kawhi Leonard, backed out of the trade in the wake of his salary-cap circumvention scandal, yet are still in play to trade for him again. “It happens every year in the NBA. The [Oklahoma City] Thunder won the year before, and everybody loaded up to try to beat the Thunder,” said Kolek. “We win, it happens every single year. It’s a copycat league. Teams are trying to beat the best and compete with the best, so they do what they can.”
What was your reaction to being traded to Oklahoma City in the Paul George deal. Did you see superstar potential in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander early on, similar to what you saw in Jokic? Danilo Gallinari: Yeah, you could see it from Shai too that he was going to be a very, very good player. I was older, so I wasn't shocked as I was for my first trade. So I took it just as business, you know, going to the other city and just going to play basketball in another city for another team, so I wasn't as shocked as the New York trade.
NBA Trade Machine: On HoopsMatic over the past 24 hours, Jrue Holiday showed up in 5.4% of all trades built. Among those, he was most often sent to Oklahoma City (9.8%), Charlotte (9.8%), and Golden State (7.3%), and the return pieces that came up most often were Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (8.5%), Royce O'Neale (8.5%), and Duncan Robinson (7.3%).
Michael Porter Jr.: "I don't know why they let KCP go. That was the beginning of our downfall. We still went Game 7 with Minnesota after Tim Connelly kind of built Minnesota to try to beat us with the two bigs. Because then you put KAT on Joker and you let Rudy kind of roam. So they kind of built that team to try to beat us and they got us in Game 7. Then they let us run it back another year and that's when we lost to OKC in Game 7. That's when I got hurt. I was wearing the pad on my shoulder. My shoulder was like dislocated and stuff and we lost to OKC in Game 7. I had a terrible playoffs because I had an AC joint grade two injury. It was like a three or four-month injury, but I'm trying to play through it. I'm popping it with the numbing stuff with a needle every game. I'm trying to play through it, can't lift my arm, but we lose and I played the worst. So I'm like, okay, I'm the one that's probably going to get shipped out."
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Your future in Oklahoma City wasn't secure after the season ended. Now you've signed a new three-year contract. How important was it for you to remain part of this project? Isaiah Hartenstein: I really wanted to stay with this team for the long term and continue playing for a title contender. Of course, I was aware of my market value. It was already higher than what we negotiated. But because of the second apron and the way the team is structured, I had to accept a slightly lower salary. It's still a lot of money, of course, but it's a pay cut I had to accept for the sake of the team.
Brandon Rahbar: The Lakers don’t visit OKC until April 1. The Warriors don’t visit OKC until a back to back set on April 8 and April 9. Odd that Thunder fans will see neither Luka Doncic nor Steph Curry until the final 11 days of the season.
Spencer Jones took to LinkedIn to react to his two-way offer sheet. His NBA future will be decided this weekend. Either he joins the Thunder for a fresh start or stays on the Nuggets with a pay raise.
Crews began pouring concrete on Oklahoma City’s new NBA arena, Continental Coliseum, this week, marking a major construction milestone, according to city officials. “Progress continues on our new arena, which is one of the most aspirational projects in our city’s history,“ Mayor David Holt said. “This first concrete placement is another milestone in the journey, and we know this means that soon we’ll see our new arena rising out of the ground.”
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Shams Charania: Oklahoma City has now acquired seven second-round picks this offseason, shed $224 million in payroll and tax and positioned themselves comfortably under the second apron via the trades of Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins. Rather than simply declining Dort's $17.7 million team option to save the money, the Thunder picked it up, acquired three future assets, created a $17M trade exception and place their 2025 championship stalwart in position for a new long-term deal in Atlanta which was not viable in OKC.
