Your teams. Your favorite writers. So even if you don’t think much of Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova or Domantas Sabonis, you’ll surely grant they’re better than the empty roster spot Ibaka would have left behind. Personalize SI with our new App. Install on iOS or Android.
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Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka (9) tries to get past San Antonio’s Danny Green (14) during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Saturday, March 26, 2016.
In a move few saw coming, the Thunder, who did not have a pick in the NBA’s annual disbursement of young talent, have found a way to get involved by dealing their 25-year-old first-round pick of 2008.
Oladipo, drafted second overall out of IN in 2013, averaged 16 points, 3.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds a game for Orlando last season. Roberson, a 6-foot-7 leaper, improved as a scorer in the playoffs and has potential, but his career marks of 3.6 points per game and 27.4 percent from 3-point range put him in danger of being replaced.
In 2011-12, Ibaka was the runner up for the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, which went to Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks.
CITY (AP) The Thunder might finally have found their shooting guard in Victor Oladipo. Sabonis, meanwhile, is the son of Hall-of-Famer, former figurative and literal Trail Blazer Arvydas Sabonis.
Aiding the Thunder’s push through the Western Conference playoffs, the veteran big man helped the franchise reach the Conference Finals for the first time since 2013-2014 and the fourth time since Ibaka has been in Oklahoma City. He should fit well with the Magic, who, frankly, need him much more than the Thunder did. The Hornets have eight free agents and have said their top priority is to re-sign Nicolas Batum, who is expected to receive around $20 million per year.
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The big picture view in this transaction is how it will affect Kevin Durant’s free agency decision, if at all. But the Thunder have always operated from a proactive standpoint and they didn’t have enough depth against the Warriors and they wore down late in many games, an issue that plagued them all season. Ilyasova has a nice shooting touch and has been a valuable commodity with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Detroit Pistons, and most recently the Magic.
