Thunder might be interested in Bradley
With the trade deadline coming up on Thursday, the Thunder has reportedly shown interest in a Clippers free-agent-to-be. According to Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post, the Thunder has expressed interest in Avery
Bradley, who was traded from Detroit to Los Angeles on Monday. Bradley, 27, is a career 36.8 3-point shooter who is a two-time All-NBA Defensive Team honoree.
With Bradley set to become a free agent next summer, the bar for acquiring him as a potential rental may be lower than a player with years of control remaining on his deal. Bradley is earning $8.2 million in the final year of his contract.
The hitch for the Thunder is its assets, or lack thereof. Its first-round picks are tied up until 2022, with its 2018 and 2020 first-rounders belonging to Minnesota and Orlando, respectively. Without a true first-rounder to trade, teams will ask the Thunder about 19-year-old
Terrance Ferguson, who OKC is high on and projects to develop into a two-way wing talent.
Offense turns it over in 4th
The Thunder played late into the night Thursday, and sputtered out late Friday.
It was evident in the turnovers in a 114-100 loss to the Pelicans. The Thunder was already struggling with its shot, but six turnovers in a little more than six minutes — all by starters Steven Adams, Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook — gave OKC no chance to counter.
That’s six more possessions the Thunder could have had in a stretch in which it only scored seven points from the field.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan sat at the podium, speaking in a gravely voice, the Thunder playing less than 24 hours since its latenight loss in Denver. But he didn’t make excuses for the Thunder’s offense taking too long to get into its sets and find a rhythm.
“I just thought it was really tired,” Donovan said. “There was no rhythm to how we were playing. That led to turnovers.
“Even when we did generate some good looks, we weren’t sharp and crisp. I think our offense has come a long way over the last two months, but we’ve been better, especially scoring 58 points in the first half.”
The Thunder will get Saturday off before hosting the Lakers at 1 p.m. Sunday.
No discipline for Westbrook
Westbrook will not face any discipline from the NBA following Thursday night’s game against Denver and an incident involving a fan, The Oklahoman confirmed Friday.
ESPN first reported that Westbrook would not receive any fine or suspension for shoving a fan who came out onto the court after the Nuggets’ 127-124 win. Following a gamewinning shot from Gary Harris, the fan ran onto the court from the baseline and screamed into Westbrook’s face, which prompted Westbrook to push him away. Security removed the fan from the court.
According to ESPN, law enforcement “issued a summons and complaint for trespass” and the fan was banned from Nuggets games.
L2M not in OKC’s favor
There was no doubt the league’s latest Last Two Minute report would be interesting following Thunder-Nuggets.
On the final possession in which the Nuggets won on a buzzer-beater, the NBA ruled two “correct no-calls” and left a no-call on a potential 5-second inbound without a ruling.
The NBA’s report stated that inbounder Nikola Jokic “shuffles his feet, but does not leave the designated throw-in spot, which is defined by the Rule Book as the space within one step of his original position in either direction.” Jokic appeared to take three shuffle steps to his right.
The report also stated that when Denver’s Wilson Chandler ran into Jerami Grant, “Grant and Chandler are performing normal defensive and offensive movements when they collide before the inbound.” The contact between Chandler and Grant was “therefore deemed incidental.”
The 5-second inbound call was “detectable by a stopwatch.” Under league mandate, such a call is noted in brackets on the L2M report with an explanation, but isn’t deemed to be incorrectly officiated, which is why there was no ruling. The league said Jokic released his inbound pass “about 5.1 seconds” after receiving the ball from the official.