Report: Thunder Not Expected to Keep Former Sixers Center Tony Bradley

When the 2021 NBA trade deadline was quickly approaching, the Philadelphia 76ers were linked to several potential trades. When the deadline finally put a halt to all deals for the remainder of the year, the Sixers struck just one trade.

In a three-team deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New York Knicks, the Sixers landed veteran point guard George Hill to bolster the second unit for the final stretch of the regular season and the playoffs.

In order to land the veteran ball-handler, the Sixers gave up two reserves in Vincent Poirier and Terrance Ferguson to the Knicks along with picks and also sent the young veteran center Tony Bradley to the rebuilding Thunder.

At the time, Bradley was coming off of a hot stretch. In his final eight games in Philadelphia, he averaged 20 minutes on the court as Joel Embiid sat out with an injury. During that time, he posted 7.8 points per game and collected 6.8 rebounds.

From the field, Bradley was nearly unstoppable during the limited time he had the ball in his hands as he averaged 80-percent on 4.5 shots. Considering he would've played third to a healthy Embiid and Dwight Howard down the stretch, the Sixers struck while the iron was hot and sent Bradley packing to OKC.

Landing in a situation with the Thunder was good for Bradley. As a talented 23-year-old veteran, Bradley was bound to get solid playing time on a team that didn't have any chance of cracking the playoffs.

Although the situation was right for Bradley, the Thunder don't seem too interested in retaining the young center. Despite averaging a career-high of 8.7 points per game and 6.1 rebounds, the Thunder are not expected to extend a qualifying offer to Bradley, according to The Athletic's Tony Jones. Therefore, he'll become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

Bradley won't rack up the big bucks in free agency, but he'll be sure to gain some notable interest from teams looking for a quality second center to develop after his decent showing in OKC. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.