With Kevin Durant leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, does it impact the Philadelphia 76ers’ chances at getting Dion Waiters?
The Philadelphia 76ers have made a few free agency moves, but fans can only hope that they’re not done yet. With the only big move the team has actually gotten confirmation on being the signing of Jerryd Bayless — which may not be as bad as I’m trying to make it sound — there’s room to make another splashy move.
The Sixers have tons of money to spend before they even meet the salary floor. The team is not required to meet that floor — if they do not, the remaining players on the team split the difference of the remaining amount — but why not find some players to sign to reach the minimum amount that needs to be spent?
One of the big names that’s been brought up is Dion Waiters, currently a restricted free agent attached to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder are in an interesting predicament, losing one of their franchise players to free agency on July 4th to the Golden State Warriors — Kevin Durant.
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Talks have been heating up with the possibility of Waiters coming back to play in front of his hometown — he was raised in South Philadelphia. With Durant walking away from the Thunder, there’s question as to if that will change anything regarding the Sixers interest in Waiters and whether or not the Thunder will match offer sheets extended his way.
First of all, I don’t think the Thunder are as bad-off as everyone seems to think they are. Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Victor Oladipo, and a ton of solid role-playing athletes are still on the team. None of them will be able to make up for what Durant had to offer, but they’re still solid players, and to think that the Thunder will go from being a championship contending team to the worst in the Western Conference is foolish.
That being said, there’s not much need for them to retain Dion Waiters. Waiters, who only started 15 games last season, is likely to not start many next season with Victor Oladipo coming in.
Oladipo spent some time at the point for the Magic last season, but according to Basketball-Reference.com, Oladipo has spent above 70 percent of his on-court time playing the shooting guard role rather than the point guard role.
I imagine that the Thunder — given that they don’t attempt to move Westbrook or anyone else — will run a starting backcourt of Russell Westbrook and Victor Oladipo, thus making paying Waiters the money he will be offered from Philly slightly pointless.
Additionally, one of the reasons the Thunder would have matched his offer is because Waiters and Durant are pretty close friends, thus giving the Thunder some leverage in swinging Durant back their way. With Durant gone, that friendship card is useless to the Thunder.
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Bringing back Waiters to the Thunder doesn’t make much sense unless the Thunder still have some dealing to do, which isn’t out of the question. With other teams that were interested in Waiters — such as the Sacramento Kings — taking a step back, seemingly, it’s the perfect time for Philadelphia to step in and go after Waiters, bringing him back to his hometown to play.