Sam Presti is a busy dude right now. After signing both Adams and Oladipo to four year extensions and not getting one done with Andre Roberson he has now traded Ersan Ilyasova and a protected 2020 first round pick to the Sixers for Jerami Grant and a TPE. Thus, Ersan Ilyasova’s career as a stretch four in OKC lasted three games.
Grant is 6’9″ and basically an athletic forward who can defend multiple front court positions and unlike both Roberson and Singler can defend power forwards if needed. Like Andre Roberson, he’s limited offensively. First and foremost this puts the Thunder $7.1 million under the salary cap and for the Thunder this will perhaps enable them to pursue Rudy Gay once Cameron Payne’s health situation is clarified.
The most glaring weakness of OKC currently is three point shooting. It would appear Presti will be making another deal once Cameron Payne is given a clean slate of health.
Short term, OKC did nothing which makes them better immediately. But it would appear Sam Presti will be pulling another trigger in the not too distant future to shore up OKC’s small forward offensive woes and give Westbrook some more help on that end of the floor.
Jerami Grant–Syracuse