Centered in OKC
Nerlens Noel will join the Oklahoma City Thunder on a two-year deal.
Five years into his NBA career, Nerlens Noel has navigated some stormy seas.
He’ll seek smoother sailing in Oklahoma City.
The 24-year-old free-agent center agreed on Monday to a contract with the Thunder, Yahoo Sports! first reported and The Oklahoman confirmed.
It’s a two-year deal — the second year is a player option — expected to be at the veteran minimum, which would pay Noel about $1.7 million next season.
It’s a surprisingly low price for a 6-foot-11 former lottery pick who last season turned down a reported four-year, $70 million deal with the Mavericks, and that makes the appeal obvious.
Noel is a high-level athlete and rim protector who in his first two NBA seasons averaged 10.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.7 blocked shots, 1.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He runs the floor in a way the Thunder wants its big men to, and he comes at a bargain price.
But there’s a reason for that, and that’s why — even on a veteran-minimum contract — Noel comes with some risk.
There have been questions about Noel’s work ethic, about
how engaged he is in improving. His minutes and productivity have dropped off since those first two seasons in Philadelphia, and he bottomed out last season, averaging career lows in points (4.4), rebounds (5.6) and minutes (15.7).
Noel had thumb surgery last December and was out until late February, playing in a career low 30 games all season.
And in April, Noel was suspended the final five games of the season for violating the NBA’s antidrug program. According to the league’s collective bargaining agreement, players are suspended five games for a third positive test for marijuana.
This week, Thunder general manager Sam Presti has been praised for his gamble last summer to bring Paul George to Oklahoma City, effectively on a one-year contract, trading young rotation players Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to get him. That paid off when George agreed on Saturday night to return to the Thunder on a four-year deal that includes a player option for the fourth season.
Noel represents a dice roll of a different sort, the risk and potential reward both significantly lower.
If he hits in OKC, though, there could be a payoff.
Noel can sprint the floor, and reaching an agreement with him after securing a three-year commitment from Jerami Grant on Saturday would seem to signal a desire to get faster and more athletic along the front line.
In the modern NBA, where centers who can protect the rim and switch onto smaller wing players are at a premium, Noel has shown flashes of excellence at both. In 223 career games, he’s averaged 1.4 blocked shots.
He’s not a shooter — Noel has made one 3-pointer in four career attempts — but he’s shown a knack as a passer, particularly in his first two seasons in Philadelphia.
He gives Oklahoma City an option to back up Steven Adams at center and play in some versatile, switchable lineups with Grant at power forward.
New Orleans selected Noel with the sixth pick in the 2013 NBA Draft and traded him to Philadelphia, where he sat out 2013-14 as he recovered from a knee injury suffered at Kentucky. His role with the 76ers was reduced as the team stockpiled big men, and he was traded to Dallas in February 2017.
He never found a consistent fit with the Mavericks, but in 12 games this season after returning from thumb surgery and before the five-game suspension, Noel averaged 4.9 points and 7.9 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game.
When Noel was suspended, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle told reporters that Noel had come to him to inform him personally of the suspension, saying that move “got even more of my respect.” He said Noel had been “absolutely no problem” for Dallas.
“He’s raised the level of his everything: his focus, concentration, work level, energy level,” Carlisle said. “He’s proven to me that he’s a guy that can fit into a winning system in this league.”