Who Will be Traded or Cut by the Oklahoma City Thunder Next?

The Oklahoma City Thunder have three more roster spots to trim down before next season begins.

In the last week, the Oklahoma City Thunder have started to make important decisions regarding their roster. 

In order to cut down on a roster that reached over 20 players, the team has released Tyty Washington Jr. and Usman Garuba, who were both acquired from the Houston Rockets earlier in the offseason. 

However, the Thunder roster still remains at 18 players, meaning the team will have to move on from three other players before the start of next season. 

It's a tough decision, as Oklahoma City has quality players from the starters to the end of the bench. 

The obvious candidates are Victor Oladipo and Davis Bertans, two veterans who likely won't have too big of a role next season. 

The returning Oladipo has dealt with serious injuries over the last couple seasons in Miami, including a torn patellar tendon, which is major concern for the future of his career. Although, his $9.45 million salary could be useful in matching salaries in a larger trade down the road.

Bertans $17.5 million salary could be useful on a bigger scale, but he would unlikely receive many minutes for the Thunder this season outside of coming in for 3-point shooting. 

The other three candidates are when it gets really debatable: Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Aaron Wiggins. 

Each player has provided Oklahoma City with some quality play during their careers to this point, but combined with the rest of the roster, they are likely the potential odd men out. If OKC moved on from either three, the team would certainly be able to get something out of them in a trade instead of just releasing them. 

Tre Mann's position with the Thunder has dwindled over the last season after he struggled shooting the ball, but with an incredibly strong Summer League, there is some excitement around the Florida Gator. Mann could be a nice spark plug off the bench when Oklahoma City needs it, but with the amount of guards on the roster, it's unclear how much playing time he will actually get. 

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has been a solid backup big man for Oklahoma City in his first two seasons, doing the little things right but not developing into much of a scoring or defensive threat. He's a solid rebounder and has some potential to space the floor, but the Thunder have better options with Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams. 

The player I would not release or cut out of the five mentioned is undoubtedly Aaron Wiggins, who is a very underrated player for Oklahoma City. While not being given a ton of minutes last season, he made the most of it by being a hustler on both sides of the ball. He's a solid three-and-D wing that any team would be interested in having, nearly shooting 40% from 3 last season on almost 2 3-pointers a game. 

Whether it be via trade or cut, Oklahoma City's roster will undergo further changes in the coming weeks to get the roster to an eligible amount for next season. 

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