Free Agency...Telfair To OKC, Thabo To ATL
By Randy Renner
Free agent point guard Sebastian Telfair has agreed to a one year, non-guaranteed contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The deal, should it become guaranteed, would net Telfair the veterans' minimum salary which is about $1.3 million. The Thunder would face a cap hit of a bit less than $1 million.
Earlier this week we told you about Telfair's visit to OKC and that he had posted a photo on his Instagram account from the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
The Thunder have a habit of taking new players to the organization to the Memorial. So that was a tipoff that the Thunder were very serious with Telfair. They also had discussions with him last season but Telfair chose instead to go to China.
He averaged 26 points and six assists as a point guard for Tianjin Ronggang.
Telfair's career numbers in the NBA are 7.4 points and 3.5 assists per game. Overall he's hit 39.1 percent of his shots (32.0 percent on threes) and throughout his career he's never really been known as a shooter.
His last season in the NBA, 2012-13, he split between Phoenix and Toronto. He averaged 5.6 points and 2.6 assists, shooting 36.2 percent overall and 35.3 percent from deep. His shooting percentage beyond the arc was the second best of his career.
No contracts can be signed until July 10th.
Thunder free agent shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha is ending his five and a half year run with the Thunder. Reports out of Atlanta say Thabo has agree to a three year deal worth $12 million. That averages out to more per year than Sefolosha ever made in any one season with the Thunder.
Sefolosha was traded to the Thunder from the Chicago Bulls on February 19th, 2009. He brought instant defense and his 3-point shooting got better and better and then of course fell off a cliff this past season. His defense wasn't up to par either in the second half of the season and in playoffs though he was hampered by a nagging calf strain.
When Sefolosha arrived in OKC the Thunder were just starting to turn things around under Scott Brooks but were just 13-41 at that point in their first season in OKC.
After Thabo arrived the Thunder went 281-109, of course other additions and a few subtractions helped out too but Sefolosha contributed mightily to the Thunder turnaround.
He's also a class guy and he and his wife Bertille were active in the community and supported a variety of causes.
All of us here at InsideThunder.com wish the "Swiss Mister" nothing but the best.
OTHER NOTES
It's been quiet as far as the Thunder's pursuit of Pau Gasol and Mike Miller is concerned. Gasol continues to be courted by other teams, especially the Bulls, who can offer him a better financial deal than the Thunder, Spurs, Heat or Knicks can.
Miller said yesterday he hopes to make his decision either Friday or Saturday and he's hoping the Grizzlies sweeten the last deal they offered because that's where he wants to stay but he'll bolt if the length of the contract isn't to his liking and from what we're heard that first offer wasn't.
Late word today that the Thunder are now talking with free agent shooter Anthony Morrow. He's a guy we've mentioned before as a likely target. Not clear if OKC's discussions with Morrow are the result of losing confidence that they can get Miller or just covering the bases.
If they can get Morrow he might be someone who could step in to that starting shooting guard spot or at the very least be a solid member of the rotation. He can knock down threes and play some "D" and other teams also very interested.
As usual we'll keep you updated here on the main page and we are constantly updating our Twitter feed.