BREAKING: Thunder Trade Patty Mills in Salary Dump for Hawks
The Oklahoma City Thunder have remained active late into free agency. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Thunder have acquired TyTy Washington, Usman Garuba, Rudy Gay and a second-round pick from the Atlanta Hawks, who received Patty Mills.
For the Hawks, this move was a salary dump, as they saved $4.5 in the deal and ultimately sacrificed a second-round pick and a couple young players.
The Thunder have done this a few times this season, acquiring Davis Bertans, Victor Oladipo and Mills to help teams work their salary caps.
With another second-round pick coming to town, the Thunder also get more trade assets and training camp competition.
Washington and Garuba were shipped to Atlanta from the Houston Rockets in a move that created space for the Rockets to make their desired free agency moves, as they were one of the most active teams when the free agency period opened up.
Gay was sent to the Hawks in a move that saw John Collins being traded to the Utah Jazz, and Gay was more of a contract match than a desired trade piece for the Hawks.
Washington and Garuba are both recent first-round picks that have potential to be developed. While the Thunder currently don't have the room for them, they'll be players to keep an eye on during training camp. Neither player has yet had the potential to play more than 14 minutes per game with the Rockets, and the Thunder might not have anymore flexibility to help develop them.
In other moves, the Thunder have brought in players that have tradable contracts when attaching draft assets to them. Making $6.48 million in the final season of his contract, Gay provides a contract that the Thunder could tag along with Davis Bertans or Victor Oladipo to match a contract of a desired Thunder trade target if they decide to go in that direction.
This past season with the Rockets, Garuba shot 40 percent from beyond the arc, albeit on 1.6 attempts per game, but is a wrinkle for fans to keep their eye on. Washington appeared in just 31 games during his rookie season. Both are just 21-year-olds and, as mentioned, recent first-round picks.
Though the Thunder likely won't keep any of the three players, they've got even more flexibility moving forward and are clearly not done making moves, as they've got to trim down the amount of players currently on the roster.
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