Oklahoma City Thunder: Assessing the worst 3 contracts on the roster
The Oklahoma City Thunder entered the 2019 playoffs following another underwhelming regular-season, although few envisioned the franchise losing their instrumental All-Star pairing.
Paul George sent the Thunder spinning towards a rebuild after he stunned the organization with a trade request, and Russell Westbrook quickly followed the MVP nominee out of the door. The decision to trade Westbrook and George yielded the Thunder with a record haul of future draft picks, although the franchises days of contending are now over.
General Manager Sam Presti plans to build around young talents such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Terrance Ferguson, although the Thunder's ongoing rebuild may be delayed by several bad deals on the roster. So, ahead of the 2019-20 season, here we will look at the three worst deals on the OKC roster.
#3 Dennis Schroder
Dennis Schroder joined the Thunder last summer as part of the deal that sent Carmelo Anthony to the Hawks. Schroder had established himself as an important player during his five seasons in Atlanta, although the point guard was traded after publicly criticizing the direction of the franchise.
Due to his outspoken nature, some questioned how the 25-year-old would react to playing backup Oklahoma City, although Schroder embraced his new role and averaged 15.5 points, 4.1 assists, and 3.6 rebounds in just under 30 minutes per contest.
However, despite the departure of Westbrook, Schroder is still expected to play backup to the promising Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the German is owed more than $30 million over the next two seasons. Ultimately, Schroder's production from the bench is no longer a luxury that the Thunder need, and Presti will be keen to offload the point guard before the trade deadline.