5 Best Value Free Agents for OKC Thunder to Pursue in 2015 NBA Free Agency
NBA free agency is normally a feeding frenzy, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are near the bottom of the food chain this offseason. Money talks during the league’s "silly season," but OKC doesn’t have enough of it to make a big splash.
General manager Sam Presti has $78.3 million in salaries on the books for the 2015-16 season, a number that’s well over the projected cap of $67.1 million. The Thunder can re-sign their own free agents (Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler) using Bird rights—assuming ownership doesn’t mind paying the luxury tax for the second consecutive season—but they don’t have money to throw at big names on the “open” market.
If Presti wants to upgrade the roster by signing an external free agent (or two), all he’ll have at his disposal is the taxpayer mid-level exception worth up to $3.3 million, according to renowned cap guru Larry Coon.
That’s almost certainly not enough money to lure the likes of Danny Green, Wesley Matthews or Khris Middleton, so the Thunder will have to be content with less impactful names. Nevertheless, “less impactful names” play significant roles on practically every championship team. The following slides contain five plausible free-agent targets capable of making a difference in next season’s quest for a title.
Alan Anderson
1 of 5
At 32 years old, Alan Anderson isn't going to be a long-term piece for this team, but he can be a solid role player for at least a couple of seasons. He’s not a devastating three-point shooter, but he knocked down an acceptable 35 percent of his treys last year. According to NBA.com, that number increased to 37 percent on catch-and-shoot opportunities—the type of shot that figures to be a major part of his diet if he came to OKC.
Ideally, those percentages would be a little higher, but he’s good enough from downtown to make defenses think before they help off him. The same cannot be said for Andre Roberson or Dion Waiters.
On the defensive end, Anderson has proven to be tough and versatile—something that cannot be said for Anthony Morrow or Jeremy Lamb.
At 6’6” and 220 pounds, you can’t expect him to check the best 3s in the game for long stretches, but he can survive switches, and he’s a reliable stopper at the shooting guard spot. Last year, opponents scored 6.7 fewer points per 100 possessions when Anderson was on the floor, per Basketball-Reference.
Anderson has a $1.3 million player option for next season, but Fred Kerber of the New York Post reports he’s opting out and hitting the market. After making the minimum salary for most of his career, Anderson is unlikely to fall out of OKC’s price range.
He’s not a game-changer, but his appeal to the Thunder is that he won’t catastrophically hurt them. If that sounds underwhelming, go check the shooting guard depth chart and get back to me. Whether he’s a starter or a backup, Anderson can handle postseason minutes at the 2 for this team. That’s a valuable addition considering OKC’s cap situation.
Mike Dunleavy Jr.
2 of 5
Like the aforementioned Alan Anderson, Mike Dunleavy is past his prime. He’ll be 35 years old in September, so he may only have one or two decent years left in the tank, but those seasons could be spent backing up Kevin Durant and chasing rings.
Finding a suitable backup for Durant is a necessity since it’ll be important to keep his minutes in check moving forward. Dunleavy would be the best option OKC has had in a while.
His primary value comes as a floor-spacer. Over his 13 NBA seasons, the Duke alum has hit 38 percent of his threes. Just last year, Dunleavy knocked down an eye-popping 41 percent from downtown, which was good for 10th in the league (min. 200 attempts).
Though shooting is his best skill, he’s a solid all-around player. He's a coach’s son, moving the ball well and playing sound positional defense. It’s hard to say whether his recent defensive performance has been the result of former Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau’s scheme, but he has a high basketball IQ, which should help him tread water on that end of the floor.
Dunleavy’s last contract was for an average salary of $3.3 million, so he should be a realistic option for OKC’s limited cap space. He’s a reliable veteran who can handle 15-20 minutes per game, either playing behind Durant or alongside him in smaller lineups.
Dorell Wright
3 of 5
In the context of OKC’s free-agent targets, think of Dorell Wright as a poor man’s Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy may command the full taxpayer mid-level exception ($3.3 million), but Wright may be available at just the veteran’s minimum ($1.5 million).
Wright is a notch below Dunleavy as a long-range gunner, but he’s still a respectable 36 percent shooter for his career and showed some slashing ability at times last season. Joe Freeman of the Oregonian contends that Wright was an important piece for the Portland Trail Blazers both on and off the court:
"Stotts regularly used Wright as a floor-spacing forward in his "small" shooting lineups, a look that offered a nice change of pace when the Blazers needed a jolt. Also, behind the scenes, Wright was quietly influential. The Blazers' younger players revered him and regularly leaned on him for advice, and veterans and young players alike appreciated his easygoing demeanor and humor. The Blazers' chemistry was excellent and he was one of the reasons why it was so.
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Despite inconsistent playing time, Wright remained the consummate professional. There’s value in a veteran who understands his role and buys into the team’s goals. Wright also brings some versatility to the table since he regularly played as a small-ball 4 and rebounded well in those lineups.
He's the least appetizing free agent on this list, but he's an adequate Plan B as Durant's backup and provides good value at the minimum salary.
Jared Dudley
4 of 5
This is the least likely of the options presented here, since Jared Dudley would have to sacrifice money to come to OKC. He has a player option of $4.5 million for next season, and he’s been on record saying a return to Milwaukee is likely, according to Andrew Gruman of Fox Sports Wisconsin.
"All signs are for me to come back here—even if I did opt out—just because I think my value here is at a high," Dudley said. "Even though me being a vet I could play for a contending team, I think this has been my gratifying season just because we took a team from 15 wins to 41 wins."
Despite this fact, Dudley is on the list because he’s the best fit. If he's interested in joining the Thunder, he's the most appealing free agent out there (of the realistic options). He’s capable of sliding between the 2 and 4 depending on matchups, and he rediscovered his shooting stroke last year, hitting 39 percent of his threes.
It wouldn’t be the first time an NBA player changed his mind, and the prospect of chasing a title on such a talented team may be too alluring to pass up. He would have to sacrifice money and playing time, however, so Thunder fans shouldn’t get their hopes up about the Boston College product.
Kyle Singler
5 of 5
Last but not least comes one of the Thunder’s own free agents. Kyle Singler may be the best value out there because of the financial implications and what he can provide on the court.
Since OKC has his Bird rights, it can re-sign him without using the mid-level exception, leaving it the opportunity to keep Singler and add another one of the free agents listed here (e.g. Alan Anderson). To do this, however, Presti would probably need to release or trade away some players because the Thunder only have two roster spots left.
Even if you ignore the financial side of things, Singler’s game can help the Thunder. He struggled after his midseason trade to OKC, but he still showed flashes of the all-around skill set that appealed to Presti in the first place. The GM talked to Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman about Singler's value to the team:
"With regards to Singler, finding a player in free agency that can shoot close to 40% from the three point line over the course of a season, embrace various roles, and stand as one of your more fundamental players at 6-9 is unlikely when over the cap and tax. Therefore, we are hopeful we will be able to keep working with him in the future.
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Singler is a smart all-around player with the defensive intelligence and passing ability to fit in nicely as a complementary piece on this Thunder team. The fact that he wouldn’t use up OKC’s limited cap flexibility for this season is just icing on the cake.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com, and all salary information is from Spotrac.
To argue about this article or hoops in general, follow me on Twitter at @Kawhiser_Soze.
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