Previously, they had to exceed the Thunders’ offer by quite a bit to make themselves noticed.
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Protecting itself against the potential loss of Waiters, OKC signed 2013 draft pick Alex Abrines, a guard from Spain who is a top Euroleague player, and acquired guard Victor Oladipo from the Magic via trade.
According to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Oklahoma City Thunder have rescinded a qualifying offer on Dion Waiters, making him an unrestricted free agent. It is important to note, however, that the Thunder still holds Waiters’ Bird Rights, as they rescinded the qualifying offer before the cutoff date of July 23. First off, it eliminates a $12.8 million cap hold Waiters took up by being a restricted free agent.
This doesn’t mean that we definitely won’t see Waiters in an OKC uniform next season. Now, only two restricteds remain.
Waiters’ qualifying offer was $6.8 million, a one-year deal that Waiters could agree to at any point should he not get a better offer sheet. The longer he stayed on the market, the longer the chances of that went up.
Now the Thunder are left picking up the pieces in regards to guys like Russell Westbrook and-to a much lesser degree-someone like Dion Waiters.
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Fred Katz is the Thunder beat writer for the Norman Transcript and the host of the Locked on Thunder podcast.
