Thunder Waive Josh Hall, Sign Paul Watson Jr. To Two-Way Deal
Earlier this offseason, Josh Hall was signed to a two-way contract by the Oklahoma City Thunder, filling the second slot alongside Aaron Wiggins. However, on Sunday afternoon the team announced that Hall is being waived.
This opens up another two-way spot on the Thunder roster with training camp opening in just over two weeks. With that in mind, InsideTheThunder.com has been able to confirm earlier reports that this spot will be filled by Paul Watson Jr., although this hasn't been officially announced by the Thunder.
This means he will split his time in the 2021-22 season between the Thunder and the OKC Blue in the G League.
Watson Jr. is a 6-foot-6 guard who's known for being an excellent 3-point shooter. He will be 27 years old for the majority of the 2021-22 season.
Watson Jr. went to college at Fresno State, where former Thunder wing Paul George played. In four years, Watson Jr. averaged 10.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest.
From there, he went undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft, followed by a stint playing professionally in Germany. He would then come back to the United States and play for several G League teams, including the Westchester Knicks and Raptors 905.
In January of 2020, he was signed to a 10-day contract with the Atlanta Hawks, but was released shortly after. After his release, Watson Jr. signed a two-way deal with the Toronto Raptors that was later converted to a full-time multi-year NBA contract.
During the 2020-21 season, Watson Jr. got his first real chance in the NBA, playing for the Toronto Raptors. He played in 27 games while averaging 4.1 points and 1.7 rebounds per contest. He shot 46.9 percent from deep on 2.4 attempts per game.
Watson Jr. played the best game of his NBA career in April against the Magic, where he helped the Raptors get a win behind his 30 points (8 made threes). The very next game, he scored 0 points on 0-10 shooting against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In Oklahoma City, on a rebuilding team, Watson Jr. might get the chance to play quite a bit on the Thunder even outside of his G League time with the Blue.
