What Signing Spencer Jones Means for the OKC Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder continued its offseason on Saturday by inking Denver Nuggets restricted free agent wing Spencer Jones to an offer sheet. The deal is for two years worth $12 million. This leaves the Denver Nuggets until Sunday at 11:59 PM ET to match this offer extended to Jones and retain him on its roster. If that deadline comes and goes without the Nuggets matching, the Thunder will have filled out its entire standard roster with Jones taking up the spot left behind by defensive ace Lu Dort traded to Atlanta.

Oklahoma City spent the summer making cost saving moves. The Thunder dumped sharpshooter Isaiah Joe to Detroit then in separate moves shipped bench scorer Aaron Wiggins and the afromentioned Dort to Atlanta. This saved $240 million in luxury tax for the OKC Thunder and created an open roster spot in the process.

The Thunder, on top of the financial savings, ducked $6.9 million below the second apron after all these moves settled in. Now, with Oklahoma City inking Jones to a two-year $12 million dollar deal, this likely structures out as putting the team $842,000 below the second apron as each year will see the Thunder owe the wing $6 million. ESPN's Shams Charania reported this is a fully guaranteed contract.

Last season, the Stanford product averaged 5.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.3 stocks per game while shooting 50% from the floor, 39% from beyond the arc and 60% at the charity stripe across a career high 64 games while logging a career-best 22.1 minutes per game.

If the Denver Nuggets do not match this deal, they will be losing a key rotational piece from last year's club without a clear avenue to replace him. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City would add to its roster and flush out more depth with the best available (realistic) option for the team's final roster spot.

Jones turned in 1.179 points per possession on spot up chances (83rd percentile), 1.2 points per possession in transition and a 1.4 points per possession mark as the pick-and-roll roller though on just 17 attempts.

The wing, who is entering his third NBA season, shot 41% as a catch-and-shoot option and 66% at the rim signaling his fit for this Thunder roster. At a true 6-foot-7 he offers the Thunder more size and is able to replace Dort's ability to defend bigger bodies.

Now the decision turns to Denver, who on the floor need to match this contract but in the salary cap book might not be able to. However, if the Nuggets can get off of Zeke Nnaji's deal it would likely open up the path to retain Jones and send the Thunder back to the drawing board.

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