March 2016 Oklahoma City Thunder Wiretap

Cameron Payne Suffers Fracture In Right Foot

Sep 29, 2016 12:38 PM

Cameron Payne has suffered an acute fracture in the fifth metatarsal his right foot.

Payne suffered the injury on a drive to the basket against Josh Huestis in the first half of the Thunder's Blue and White Scrimmage on Tuesday.

The acute fracture is unrelated to the stress fracture Payne suffered during the season in that it's an impact injury. 

Following surgery on his right foot July 25 to repair a Jones fracture, Payne had been a full participant in preseason practice with no restrictions.

The Thunder acquired veteran guard Ronnie Price this offseason and is also confident with Victor Oladipo playing at point guard.

Erik Horne/Oklahoman

Tags: Cameron Payne, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA, NBA Injury

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Thunder Add Alex Caruso, Kaleb Tarczewski, Chris Wright To Camp Roster

Sep 23, 2016 1:13 PM

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed guard Alex Caruso, center Kaleb Tarczewski and forward Chris Wright.

Caruso (6-5, 186), enjoyed a four-year collegiate career at Texas A&M where he finished as the school’s all-time leader in assists (649) and steals (276). As a senior, Caruso was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year in addition to receiving Second-Team All SEC honors. During his Aggie career, Caruso appeared in a total of 137 games and averaged 8.0 points, 4.7 assists and 2.02 steals.

Tarczewski (7-0, 250), concluded his four seasons at the University of Arizona with 110 victories, tied for the most in school history. After his senior campaign, Tarczewski was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference 2nd Team and the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team. Tarczewski concluded his Wildcat career having appeared in 135 games and registering averages of 8.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 0.87 blocks.

Wright (6-9, 226), spent the 2015-16 season playing overseas in Israel with Maccabi Rishon LeZion where he helped lead his club to the Israeli National Championship. Wright had previously appeared in 32 NBA games with the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors, averaging 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 9.8 minutes per contest. Additionally, Wright has appeared in 93 career D-League games where he holds career averages of 18.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.45 blocks.

RealGM Staff Report

Tags: Kaleb Tarczewski, Alex Caruso, Chris Wright, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA, NBA Signing Rumor, NBA Misc Rumor

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Kevin Durant Disagreed With Criticism Of His Character Following Decision

Sep 22, 2016 3:56 PM

Kevin Durant was asked about a narrative that emerged when he signed with the Golden State Warriors that he's impressionable and that he had people pushing him to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"It did," said Durant when asked if it bothered him. "I can't go in a studio and express myself through words and it be a normal day. If I were to come out and Tweet something or Instagram or whatever, a video of me disagreeing with what a write said would be career suicide."

Durant announced his decision on July 4th in the Players Tribune.

"Once I made the decision, I knew I had to take a lot of stuff on the chin. I knew I had to keep rolling iwht the punches. It upset me. It upset me coming from people I spent time with. Obviously they were upset.

"When they called me weak, I think I'm the total opposite. There was plenty of times I could have quit in this whole life. There's plenty of times when I lost, I could have just said 'well, that's it for me, let me move on.'

"How am I weak if I'm at the elite level of my profession and I chose to play for a different team."

Bill Simmons/HBO

Tags: Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA

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Thunder Renounce Rights To Tomislav Zubic

Sep 19, 2016 11:57 AM

The Oklahoma City Thunder have renounced their rights to Tomislav Zubcic.

In June 2015, Zubcic was acquired along with a $2.85 million trade exception by the Thunder from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Luke Ridnour and cash. The aforementioned deal helped the Thunder create roster space for Cameron Payne, who was drafted that same month in 2015.

Zubcic played 36 games for the D-League Oklahoma City Blue last season, averaging 7.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 19.8 minutes per game.

Zubic is now eligible to be signed by any team, but if he isn’t signed, he could wind up back with the Blue to start the 2016-17 season. The Blue still retains Zubcic's returning rights in the D-League.

 

Erik Horne/Oklahoman

Tags: Tomislav Zubcic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Oklahoma City Blue, NBA, D-League, D-League Teams

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Sam Presti: We're Uniformly Excited About What Lies Ahead For Thunder

Sep 18, 2016 12:18 PM

The Oklahoma City Thunder rebounded from losing Kevin Durant in free agency by signing Russell Westbrook to an extension.

Westbrook was set to be a free agent in 2017 but he can now opt out in 2018.

“It’s been a tremendous opportunity for us as an organization and obviously Russell and his commitment and a lot of the young players we’ve had in place, we’re really excited about the opportunity to continue to build what is an unwritten legacy,” Sam Presti said. “We will be going on our ninth season in Oklahoma City and we see this as another point in time to continue to build on our principles and vision for what the Thunder stands for and is about. We’re uniformly excited about what lies ahead, knowing full well that there’s going to be ups and downs. Part of building a sustainable and enduring organization is encountering different things along the way and figuring out how to turn them into opportunities to grow. That’s our mentality.”

Westbrook will now be the unquestioned leader of the Thunder.

“The first thing is Russell is a tremendous competitor but also highly intelligent,” Presti said. “He understands that the approach that we have to take in order to maximize ourselves is going to be one first, making sure we’re sound fundamentally and we’re continually growing through the season. That’s always kind of been a staple of the organization.

“One of the reasons why we have a lot of optimism and excitement frankly about this season upcoming is the fact that [coach] Billy Donovan has demonstrated a tremendous ability to be creative, adjust and evolve different styles of play, and utilize a lot of our personnel.”

Gary Washburn/Boston Globe

Tags: Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA

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Victor Oladipo Expects Some NBA Players To Protest During Anthem

Sep 15, 2016 1:21 PM

Victor Oladipo expects Colin Kaepernick's decision to protest during the national anthem to spread to the NBA this season.

"Oh, no question," said Oladipo. "I truly believe it will. Because at the end of the day it’s a sport, and people are gonna be looking at some guys in the NBA to see what they’re gonna do as well. At the end of the day you just control what you can control, so your opinion is your opinion, that’s the beauty of the United States, so, do whatever you feel is best that will help you do whatever you believe."

Oladipo was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder this offseason and was asked if he's discussed it yet with his teammates.

"Not yet, but a few people just in general I’ve had conversations with about that, I tell ‘em the same thing, people’s beliefs are people’s beliefs, you know what I mean, you can only control so much, you can only control what you can control, and the most things you can control is yourself. So whatever you believe, believe in to the utmost. But I think definitely, we’ll see a few guys in the NBA doing the same thing."

Russ Bengtson/Complex Sports

Tags: Victor Oladipo, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA

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Aubrey McClendon's 20 Percent Stake In Thunder Could Soon Be Sold

Sep 13, 2016 4:34 PM

Aubrey McClendon's 20 percent stake in the Oklahoma City Thunder is getting closer to becoming available.

Lenders to McClendon have claimed in court that the oilman, who co-founded Chesapeake Energy Corp, left behind more debt than his assets could repay as oil prices cratered.

McClendon had used his interest in the Thunder to personally guarantee the loan from Oaktree, whom he owed $85 million. A judge overseeing McClendon's estate approved a land deal that will pay off that loan.

McClendon has other creditors and they view his stake in the Thunder as his most valuable asset.

McClendon died in a single car accident earlier this year.

Ben Fenwick, Jessica DiNapoli/Reuters

Tags: Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA

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Mitch McGary Suspended For An Additional 10 Games

Sep 13, 2016 11:02 AM

Mitch McGary has been suspended by the NBA for an additional 10 games for non-compliance with the league's drug policy.

The violation isn’t believed to be another positive test, but rather a failure to live up to procedural guidelines set forth in the program.

McGary was suspended five games for violation of the league’s policy in July.

He will serve a 15-game suspension without pay to start the 2016-17 season.

McGary left the Thunder for the final few weeks of the season for what the franchise termed “personal reasons.” McGary essentially left the team on his own.

Positive tests have trailed McGary, who failed a drug test at the University of Michigan that would’ve cost him his junior season had he not entered the 2014 NBA draft.

Adrian Wojnarowski/The Vertical

Tags: Mitch McGary, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA, NBA Suspension

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Kevin Durant On Russell Westbrook: We're Still Cool

Sep 10, 2016 7:37 PM

During an event at the University of Texas, Kevin Durant was asked about his relationship with Russell Westbrook.

“We’re still cool. We’re going to compete against each other at the highest level. We’re gonna have fun against each other. We’re still cool.”

Following Durant's exit, a report quoted "a person with insight into Durant's thought process" as saying Durant had been frustrated with Westbrook's play within the Thunder offense.

At a Nike event in China in early July, Durant said he and Westbrook's relationship "probably won't ever be the same again."

Upon signing his extension with the Thunder on Aug. 4, Westbrook said "we've been together eight years. You don't throw that away.

"Obviously he's now with a new team. But we definitely will talk. Eventually. But, obviously, now we haven't.”

Erik Horne/Oklahoman

Tags: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA

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Dunc'd On Pod: Season Outlooks On Thunder With Fred Katz, Pistons With Dan Feldman

Sep 19, 2016 11:29 AM

Dunc'd On's Season Outlook series begins with Fred Katz (@FredKatz) of the Norman Transcript and the Locked on Thunder podcast. Nate Duncan and Katz analyze how the Thunder will look in the absence of Kevin Durant, how their new additions fit in, potential breakout and regression candidates, overrated and underrated players, playing time and lineup issues, key questions for success this year, and finally give our predictions for the Thunder season.

At 1:01, we give the same treatment to the Detroit Pistons with Dan Feldman (@DanFeldmanNBA) of NBC Sports and the Locked on Pistons Podcast.

Subscribe to the Dunc'd On Podcast via RSS feed or iTunes.

More Season Outlook episodes from the Dunc'd On Basketball Podcast.

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Tags: Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA, Dunc'd On

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