Huestis faces uncertain future
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Huestis has proven he can be an NBA player, but his stint with the team may end this summer as he enters unrestricted free agency.
Those who watch the Thunder were finally able to get a look at Josh Huestis this season. Savor it.
The 25-year-old came into Halloween night in Milwaukee with a handful of games in a row which looked promising to his signs of getting consistent minutes. Huestis also entered that night without his fourthyear option picked up by the Thunder.
As the deadline passed that night, Huestis played just six minutes. Despite a discouraged demeanor, he answered every question with grace after the Thunder’s road win. How else could Huestis handle this season of limbo?
As he enters unrestricted free agency, Huestis has proven he can be an NBA player, but his stint as a Thunder rotation player may have been a shortlived glimpse of the tough circumstances that reserves face in the luxury tax era.
Huestis’ lack of opportunities and playing time under Billy Donovan haven’t gone without question from inside the organization. There’s no more debating if Huestis can be an effective NBA player for at least pockets of game time.
“If you compare this year to the last few years, obviously it's a huge step forward for me in terms of working my way into the rotation, being a guy that sees minutes in big games,” Huestis said during his exit interview in April.
“There were ups and downs for me this year, but it's not linear. It's not a linear trajectory up. It's going to be ups and downs and all that. Anybody who thinks that it's always going to be sunshine is kind of crazy.”
He shot poorly overall — 33 percent from the field, 28.7 percent from 3 and a shocking 30 percent (6-of-20) from the freethrow line, but he was also the closest replacement to Andre Roberson in the Thunder’s starting lineup defensively — at 6-foot-7, 230 pounds, able to switch between guarding perimeter and frontcourt players.
When Huestis played with Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, the Thunder’s net rating (points per 100 possessions) was 10.5 points better than the opposition. That included a 117.4 offensive rating and 49.8 field-goal percentage, both No. 1 among the 14 Thunder lineups which played 50 minutes or more together in the regular season.
Forty percent of Huestis’ minutes were played with that foursome, and he was at least serviceable from 3-point range (6-of-17, 35.3 percent) in those minutes. His 6.6 net rating overall was second on the Thunder only to Roberson.
Huestis’s future is compounded by the Thunder’s financials. In order to keep him at the maximum it can offer ($2.2 million since OKC declined his option), the Thunder will likely be paying twice as much or more for Huestis because of its expensive roster exceeding the luxury tax. Huestis could always agree to come back for less or a salary slightly higher than the $1.47 million he played for this season.
But will he play? Following Roberson’s season-ending knee injury in January, even if Huestis’s per game minutes didn’t change, he only played in 26 of a possible 33 games. His tenure starting in Roberson’s place ended with the addition of Corey Brewer as a free agent in early March, and it didn’t take long for Huestis to be completely out of the rotation.
This was supposed to be the breakthrough. In a sense it was, until you panned away to see an uncertain future.
“I think I could be an elite defender in the league, continuing to work on that, and then offensively becoming even more a consistent shooter, being able to put the ball on the floor, decision making, making plays,” Huestis said.
“That's all stuff that I can see myself being able to do, and that'll just come with continuing to work on it and getting more opportunities and more chances to put it into action.”
For Huestis, it’s always been a matter of if those chances will come in Oklahoma City.