Felton agrees to return to OKC
The Thunder is banking on continuity next season by bringing back one of its free agent successes from last summer.
Raymond Felton has agreed to a one-year deal with the Thunder, The Oklahoman confirmed on Wednesday. The agreement was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Felton, 34, averaged 6.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last season, while shooting 35.2 percent on 3-pointers. He provided much-needed stability for the Thunder a season after it struggled to maintain offensive cohesion without Russell Westbrook in the game at point guard.
The Thunder had a meeting this week with Tyreke Evans, but Evans agreed to a one-year, $12 million deal with Indiana on Tuesday. That deal likely helped in bringing back Felton.
The Thunder is over the $123.7 million luxury tax, so it was only eligible to sign Felton at the veteran’s minimum or the taxpayer mid-level exception. Felton will make the minimum $2.93 million this season for a veteran of 10 years or more.
Roster check
With Felton and Nerlens Noel agreeing to deals, the Thunder will be at 13 guaranteed contracts. That’s before signing rookie second-round picks Devon Hall, Kevin Hervey or Hamidou Diallo, or 2017-18 two-way players Daniel Hamilton or P.J. Dozier. The Thunder’s full summer league roster is expected to be announced Thursday.
Teams can have as many as 15 guaranteed contracts not counting two-way deals.
Hall, Hervey, Hamilton and Dozier are expected to play on the Thunder’s summer league team, which starts play Friday in Las Vegas. Diallo’s playing status hinges on the completion of the Charlotte-Brooklyn trade, which can be completed on Friday at the earliest. The Thunder purchased the draft rights to Diallo from Charlotte on June 21, a pick which Charlotte received in a trade which sent Dwight Howard to Brooklyn.
On Friday at 11 a.m. central, the July moratorium is lifted and teams can sign unrestricted free agents, make trades or extend/renegotiate contracts.
Money update
As of now, the Thunder is projected to pay more than $143 million in luxury tax, making it likely that the team will have to either waive and stretch certain contracts or trade players to a team with salary cap space.
The Thunder could save more than $109 million by stretching the contracts of Kyle Singler and Carmelo Anthony over five and three seasons, respectively. The deadline to use the stretch provision and have it apply to the current season is Aug. 31.
Much has been made about the Thunder’s total salaries and luxury tax as of this week surpassing $300 million. Keep in mind that the Thunder has until the end of the season to lower its tax bill.
It could also trade players into another team’s cap space and receive nothing in return, or trade a player or two for a player with a lower salary which could significantly alter the final luxury tax numbers.
Anthony has a no-trade clause, meaning he has to agree to any trade destination proposed by the Thunder. He could also agree to a lower buyout than the $27.9 million remaining on his contract (Ex. $25 million), and the Thunder could then stretch that number over three seasons or elect to pay it all at once, another way to alleviate heavy taxes.
That’s not to say the Thunder will trade, stretch or buy out Anthony. Anthony was a good locker room presence this season despite showing frustration with his role in his end-ofseason exit interview.
The Thunder could try to bring him back for another season in hopes of more on-court success. But if he remains on the team, Anthony’s final season of his current deal cannot be re-negotiated. He would have to be waived and bought out in order for a new number to be negotiated, and then the Thunder would be paying for no on-court return.
Stats of the day
Thunder’s current 201819 luxury tax: $143,777,189
2018-19 luxury tax if it stretches Singler’s contract over five seasons: $122,292,389
2018-19 luxury tax if it stretches Anthony’s contract over three seasons: $49,644,597
2018-19 luxury tax if it stretches Anthony’s and Singler’s contracts over, three and five seasons, respectively: $34,615,574